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Funny thing, my mom had the same two answers....hmmm...
When do parents start being held responsible for being parents?
The problem is that enforcing good parenting by law is just as bad as rewarding bad parenting by law. Ideally it's society that acts as a brake on our worst impulses, not merely the scaffolding of society called "government."
My parents would have been mortified if I went tearing through the aisles of a supermarket or had a shrieking fit in public. In fact, I don't remember ANY of us three kids having done, even once. Once the crying started, we got Stock Phrase #3 - "Knock it off or I'll give you something to cry about!" End of tantrum, end of discussion.
Now we're all too nice about telling other people that their kids need to be minded, and parents are too defensive about hearing it. In the end it leads to worse, as the mollycoddled little crown jewels get their lunch money stolen by cold reality.
Hmm. I've been eating corn flakes all my life, and now I'm a tub of lard. How do I get in on this caper? But will they make me exercise if I win?
WOW! And I thought I had seen the most ridiculous lawsuit when they tried this against McDonalds. I have two kids ages 6 & 4, that love cereal and Nick. And I think the only thing they are guilty of is good advertising, if that is a crime. If I am going to buy cereal anyway of course I am going to buy one that comes with a toy, especially if 90% of the cereals all have the same ingredients (sugar and whole grains) why not get one that they like and comes with something extra? Every successful company does it! The only difference is that people overlook all the good things Kelloggs does with its money. Like all the healthy programs it has in place, as well as all the healthy lines of products it markets.
Look, If you can't tell your kids NO then you have got much bigger problems to deal with than cereal commercials. Like I heard on the radio the other day, "When your husband watches the superbowl do you rush out having to buy every truck and suv that he likes when they show it climbing up rocky mountains?, or every beer that has a good commercial and shows people being cool because they drink it?" No it's called restraint and parenting you can't succeed at one without the other, so stop trying to blame every one else for your faults!
Welcome to the Hive, K!
Sooner or later, I fear that the kids who never hear "No" will become the adults who never say "No." So, yes, they will go out and buy "meteor-proof trucks," the commercials for which actually have to say, in small print along the bottom, "Do not attempt." (If you had the power to command meteorites to fall on target, would you waste your time worrying about what truck to buy?)
And as one of my fellow bloggers said in his post on the subject, What if I want Corn Pops? Are they going to be nine bucks a box because Kelloggs has been railroaded by 'concerned parents' and associated busybodies?
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