A most wonderful time of the year, full of candy, chocolate, and costumes! Walking through the grocery store there are boxes of treats everywhere, waiting to be bought, then given away to tiny 'trick-or-treat-ers' wanting a sugar high. When I was younger my brothers and I would go trick-or-treating, come home with bulging candy sacks, and then trade our least favorites for the yummiest level of candy we could negotiate for. Then, we would sit down with our treats, and put on the TV...all night marathons of Halloween shows ensued!
Recently I watched one of my old Halloween favorites - Scooby Doo! I remember sitting and eating candy and chocolate til my stomach hurt, mesmerized by Scooby Doo and Shaggy's adventures, and marveling at their eating patterns. Those two can sure pack some food in! Plus, with the reinforcement of Scooby Snacks (click to see the theme song!) every time Scooby does something right, the show makes me realize that a lot of children have their behaviors reinforced with snacks...hmmmm...
This got me thinking about how children are influenced by what they see on T.V. After school snacks were eaten while watching 'Arthur' (D.W. is such a picky eater) or 'Sesame Street' (Cookie Monster anyone?). Eating behaviours in children are influenced by what they see on TV, with the additional factors of eating snacks while watching TV, as well as not playing/running around outside, becuase they are watching TV. However, I do know that 'Cookie Monster' has been replaced with 'Veggie Monster' but then why are childhood obesity rates on the rise?
This brings up the question about the rising rates of childhood obesity (see the 'Additional Information' tab) - If childrens' shows are getting more health conscious , why are childhood obesity rates on the rise?
I had no idea there's a Veggie Monster until now. That's cute. It's interesting though, Cookie Monster was probably never intended to make cookies fun.
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