What happened to being a responsible parent?

Question

Now, I'd like some serious answers from parents here:

Are you responsible for your children?

I just read this story on Yahoo, which basically says these parents got together and decided to sue Kellogg and Nickelodeon. for marketing non-nutritious products to children. What would possibly posess someone to do that? Couldn't you just...... not buy your kids that cereal? What happened to responsibility? I'm not that old, but if my parents didn't want me to have something, I.. wouldn't get it! If I wanted ice cream after dinner, and I didn't eat my dinner, voila! I didn't get ice cream after dinner.

It sickens me how we have to sue and blame everyone for what should be our responsiblity. I'm not a parent, so maybe I'm way off the deep end here, but parents, lets hear your take.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070614/ap_on_he_me/kids_food

Answer 1

That's really disgusting. Pass the buck much?? Like you, I was denied any treats unless the veggies were consumed first(and my daughter lives by that rule as well). Parents should be responsible for the food choices for their children. Suing for marketing to children? Yeah, I give my 3 year old some money and send her into the store for groceries, it's so hard for her to pass up the brightly colored boxes. Give me a ******* break.

Answer 2

How ridiculous. Litigation these days seems to be the way for those who don't have the ability to make a decision on their own. It's just plain lazy to let your kids do what they like and then sue someone later when things don't turn out right, or the way you want.
If you child wants something unhealthy then just say NO!

Companies get away with marketing unhealthy products because there is a MARKET for them. Tell your kids "NO", and if enough people do it, then the demand for these products will fall off. No company will market something that is unprofitable.
Take away the market for these things.

Lots of the messages here have supported just saying 'NO' to your children, and a few sufggested sending kids to bed if they don't eat their proper meals etc. Good on them!!!
My 3 boys (aged 21/19/17) have no problems with the way they were brought up. They had the occasional treat (YES, including McDonalds), but they also played a lot of sport, and were encouraged to exercise.
Some parents are just so weak!

Answer 3

It depends on the ages of the kids, I think. At 17 - that's on you. But if your parents knew you then they might have seen it coming. Some parents are either clueless, don't care enough, and just don't stay in tune with their kids. They just chalk it all up to being a teen or a kid instead of really taking the time to think about it. Basically, some parents just shirk their responsibilities. It's easier that way. I think a parent should know if a kid is drinking. There are signs and the same goes with drug abuse. I have seen good kids and bad kids. The difference is obvious if you are paying attention. Parents are responsible for their kids. They deserve some blame. I agree with Judge Judy on this one. Parents can check up on their kids to make sure that they are doing what they said they were doing. You can't just take a kid's word at face value all of the time. As parents, you should be following up too. Parents can make up excuses as to why they are checking. I had a question for you. I was in the neighborhood. Be creative.

Answer 4

without going to the link here is my thoughts:

Media does a great job of throwing things in your face that you could really give a rats behind about. But what about the kids?
Brats dolls for example: You want your kid to be a brat? Or basically what the doll intends, a mall rat? Some of the movies that are aimed towards little kids: Flika, the male version of the Olsen twins, anything Disney, Nickelodeon... etc etc. (The only one I know of so far that doesnt have this constantly is any public broadcasting shows that are aimed at kids).

Any way, I think what the parents are trying to say or do is that the television ad and show portray HEY! this is great for your kids to watch! But parents that are concerned about how their kids act in public, how they play act and what they play act is basically reinforced by the electronic babysitter. And if those shows go against the grain of the parents, of course its going to get them fired up.
Oh ya, the point about the shows like disneys and flicka. Ah... Flika, the beautiful story of a bratty little girl that just get her poor ranch hand working family to see things her way, even though her way could destroy their way of living... So what does she do? What every Disney kid does!, ignores her parents ruling and sneaks, steals, lies, and corrupts other people/things to get the results that they want! And isn't that what we want from our kids? I mean geez, if Mom and Dad wont budge to buy you that toy, just steal it! Or start putting some money aside and buy it and just hide it from your parents! After all, its the American way! Keep the country in the dark until you feel they are ready to deal with it, after you have had some time to shave the bad parts off and feel that you have a cleaner presentation to show them so they'll just accept it.
I agree however, that the point is for the parents to be the moderators in this life. They should be able to say, no, this isnt for you/us. But if you just want you kid to sit for a minute and television does that so easily, its disturbing to see what is supposed to be aimed at kids is full of underlying encouragement about decipt, lies, and theft all towards authority.

As far as the obesity issue regarding snacks aimed at 12 years or younger kids, same thing. Yes parents are the road block but how many times you want to see a dorky cartoon guy boppinbg around saying HEY KIDS MY FOOD ROCKS, TELL MOM TO BUY SOME! and its all crap. Kids don't go hmmm... wonder how much whole grain is in this. So you say no and you are now conflicting with your child. I can so understand why this group did this. Plus think of this, Kellog was so certain it was going to lose that they negotiated outside of court and revamped their products for they are the #1 seller of junk food and cereals for kids! Think that maybe they need the kids less than 12? This negotiation proves that they do. Otherwise they would have laughed it off and said go ahead, give it your best shot.

so any way, as most of us have done (gone off topic) The bottom line as repeated so well by others, be the parent, not the friend and take over your home once again and stop blaming others for the disasters that come from ignoring them.

One Last thought LOL: It HAS to be that parents must be responsible enough. The proof is in your grocery isle. What do you see more of, foods that are healthy or foods that aren't? If people increased their purchases on the food that was good for them and left the ones that aren't, that would force the store to accommodate the demand. Why have one isle dedicated to soda if it could be replaced to meet the demand of (product type)? And soda sales dropped? Just a thought.

Very interesting topic....
Something you take for granted I guess without much thought.
Good Job!

Answer 5

Being responsible for your actions went out the window when frivolous lawsuits became all the rage.

You are not off the deep end at all. I've been Reading alot of Y!A posts today about how upset people are over this whole Kellogg's thing. So many parents are posting about how society is ready to blame everyone but themselves for childhood obesity. Yes, the finger can be pointed at snack food producers and Fast Food chains, but they don't tie you up in a chair and force feed you their product. Responsibility does lie ultimately with the parents, but what causes the parents to behave this way? Laziness? Families with both parents working and no time to cook? Single parent families with the same issue?

I was watching Dr. Phil today, and the guests were both morbidly obese. Their excuse was that they can't afford to purchase the healthy, good for you foods. A nutritionist guest on the show said he'd crunched the numbers, and found that one guest was spending $32 PER DAY on food for himself alone. That's $224 a week for one person. I spend $140 per week on a family of 4. The guest doctor said that if they followed on of Dr. Phils plans, it would cost them a whopping $10 per day and they'd be able to eat right.

I went totally off topic there, and I apologize Yes, IMO parents should be the ones responsible for their child's eating habits.

Answer 6

I totally agree with you. I am a mother of 4 . Yes you want maybe healthier choices for your kids but you are the one that goes into the grocery store and lets little tommy through a temper tamper till he gets the sugar cereal. Parents need to step up to the plate and take actions for thier children instead of suing companies. How do you teach your children about choices in life if you just eleimate choices.
I might agree with maybe not putting the favorite types of toys in these kinda of cereals but the parents should be making the final choice bottom line. So who is to blame , not the company the parents are.
Also this does is make our food prices go up because some one had to sit around and come up with a scheme to get rich fast because they didnt want responsibility .

Answer 7

I am a parent, and what I say goes. If I tell my kids no... it's "yes mom" or off to bed!

I think people are trying anything to get free money now-a-days. Why not sue the big companies? I think that it is awful because they didn't do anything wrong. Marketing to kids is awesome to me. I always buy my kids a treat from the store and I would rather it be cereal or yogurt or graham crackers... than ice cream, cookies and candy. If the kids think that cereal is a treat, that's fine with me. One bowl a day for breakfast is not unhealthy. If you eat too much of anything it is unhealthy.

Parents like that make me sick.

Answer 8

I feel the same way as you do. Probably because I was raised the same.Its like when a parent is late picking up her kid from school and gets all pissed off at the school staff because nobody was there to watch her kid. I had a big fight with with an ex neighbor of mine because she thought if she got her nails done and her kid was alone after school, she figured SOMEBODY would have to stay late and wait with her kid. Well, that wasn't the way it worked out and she even wrote a letter to the news paper ranting about it and was made a fool by all the feed back. I dont get it. Cravzy.

Answer 9

I couldn't agree more. True-Blue you and I both , as cops, see the end result of this too many times. When kids start getting into trouble at a younger age and their parents, instead of correcting them, defends them no matter how wrong they may be. Of course any parent should stand by their kids; but not to the point of making them think that no matter what they do it is OK, mommy and daddy will get you out of it. The "my baby does no wrong" attitude. These are usually the kids that will end up in prison or dead when they grow up.

Some parents seem to more interested in being a "friend" to their child than a disciplinarian. Of course you need to be on a friendly basis with your children; but they have enough "friends", they need someone to guide them and teach them right from wrong and someone that they can look up to and respect as a responsible example. One should not be afraid to punish or discipline their children. A good parent, in my opinion, rewards and praises their children when they do good or at least does the best that the child can do, but punishes bad behavior.

We should not expect the educational system to fully educate, discipline, or raise our children. That is our job as parents. Some seem to get angry with everyone but themselves when their kids do not turn out so good. Here in the United States of the Offended, everyone wants to be portrayed as a victim and blame everyone but themselves when things turn out badly.

True-Blue, I know I got off the subject of the particular lawsuit you were asking about, but I took this opportunity to express my own opinion of the subject matter. If I failed to answer your question directly, I apologize

Answer 10

They shouldn't buy the stuff for the kids, you're right. But, they are trying to market their unhealthy products to them. They shouldn't be marketing it to children, and parents shouldn't be buying it for children. However, I don't think those sets of parents should be the ones getting the money. All of our children watch Nickelodean and see Frosted Flake commercials. We don't get any money out of it and niether should they. It's life and if they do like it they should get off their butts and take thier kids out to exercise instead of watching tv. Maybe there wieght problems are caused by lack of exercise also. If they really think it's wrong they should complain to a congress man about unhealthy snacks being advertised on children's television programs. I hope they don't win that case.

Answer 11

I agree with you totally. I am a parent of 3 and I don't buy my kids everything they want. I have bought sugared cereal for them and for myself but we don't eat it for every meal and snack all day long. I don't see that one bowl of cereal is going to make that much difference if the person is eating nutritious foods throughout the day. I think people have gotten "sue crazy." It's like the woman who sued McDonald's because her coffee was too hot. Or the guy who sued Winnebago because it wrecked when he put it on cruise control and then went in the back for something. People don't seem to have any common sense anymore.