I now must be certifiably old because I feel a need to write about how things were better in the olden days.
Truth is, there were a
whole lot of things that were not better in the olden days like no such thing
as a salad bar, and family grocery store trips only on Saturday because dad
took the one family car to work, and stores didn't stay open late, either.
That new idea of a little store being open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. was a
big deal. Wow, 7-11! Preschool was a rare animal in the old days, too.
But, I digress. Back to
what was better 50 years ago.
When I was young,
children drank water and milk from a glass. A washable, reusable glass.
Beverages like apple cider and root beer were considered party foods.
Once in a while you got a treat of a soda pop, warm cocoa or chilled
juice. My grandmother used to comment on how fancy my mother was for putting
ice in the water glasses for Sunday dinner. There was such a thing as a juice
glass back then for drinking breakfast juice, and the little glass held about 6
ounces.
Women at parties would
say things like "Oh, I can't drink a whole can of pop, do you want to
share one?" Glass party punch cups
held literally only one cup.
Boy, have times changed.
There are drink holders in cars and children’s car seats because we would
hate to go a few miles without a beverage, Big Gulps, soda pop with Happy Meals,
2 liter bottles in the Fridge, omnipresent pouches of something almost-like-juice,
and extra amped energy drinks for when a Coke is not enough.
Nationally it has been
reported that 42% of children are drinking soda pop daily and many more almost
daily, and researchers saw a correlation with all that pop and aggressive
behavior and lack of attention. Is there
really anyone who believes that all this pop is good for our kids? Well,
other than my brother-in-law who believes that his 4-5 Diet Cokes a day is the
reason he has never called in sick a day in his life.
American kids get too
much sugar: 22 teaspoons a day. (Read the National Geographic August 2013
article about American sugar consumption. It suggests that Americans are
addicted to sugar.) Beverages are a big
part of the problem. Many drinks quietly
lull us into drinking a lot of sugar with no nutrition to back up those
calories. Fake sugar in diet drinks is not really healthy either, and distorts
our sense of how much sweetness we need.
Sugar in drinks is bad
for the teeth (and most of the rest of the body,) and the carbonation is worse.
My kids don't have great tooth enamel and our dentist warned us that more than
two carbonated beverages a week would ruin their teeth. We all like fizzy
drinks, but having teeth when you are old is a big perk.
Colas drinks are
probably the biggest concern. Giving
children a beverage that will make them more awake and wired is just crazy. I
know that the night a neighbor sent a 6-pack of Dr. Pepper to a sleepover of 8
year-old boys at my house was the longest night of my life. But that is little compared to what it does
to the body. Besides the sugar and carbonation, cola drinks cause metabolic
acidosis and change the pH level in the body and to rebalance itself, the body
leaches minerals from the bones, making bones weaker. Medical studies show that girls even by age
15 break bones many times more frequently if they are cola drinkers. Not only
that, cola drinks are a diuretic, and actually dehydrate the body, not
replenish water. Time to remember the milk ad, “It does a body good.” Having good bones when you are old, like 30,
is a really big perk.
I think that we, in the
American culture, enjoy soda and we naturally share it with our kids. We want
every day to feel like a party, and it seems like we can provide happiness in a
cup to our children. Maybe we need to rethink patterns that have evolved
in our culture and the unspoken notion that sugar equals happiness. It’s time
to exercise some restraint and do what is genuinely best for the kids. Life
doesn’t have to feel like a constant party.
Let the kids drink water, in a cup, please.
© Diane Mangum
