Food Battles, Superheroes and the Messages Our Children Get from Media Influences

Food battles have to be one of the most unpleasant parenting challenges, especially for foodie parents. It is an area with which we have struggled off and on with The Well-Fed Son ever since we brought him home. I loved the suggestion in this video I came across while researching this topic:

We actually had already started doing this some with our son, talking to him about how proteins/fats (healthy ones) help your muscles grow big and strong. We can easily build on this to incorporate some of the other suggestions from the video.

Then not long ago, I read about a study suggesting that using Superheroes might help children make healthier fast food choices. This was intriguing to me because even though The Well-Fed Son is not yet into Superheroes very much, he talks often about his favorite monster truck and other characters from the DVDs he watches. I’m sure that if one of those characters set a positive example of healthy eating it would be a message that resonated with him and could very well help in his early understanding of the whys of eating healthy foods.

Clearly, advertisers and producers know that the messages they incorporate into ads, shows and movies can have a powerful influence in the lives of those watching. Wouldn’t it be great if those messages were more positive than not?Â

Today, I will be discussing this from a little bit of a different angle on Get Focused Radio with Kate Hennessy. The show airs from 11:30 to 12:30 EST. The focus for today’s show includes thoughts and opinions about men no longer being allowed to be men. I have stated concerns before about the body image messages girls are getting from media influences. I have some strong opinions and concerns about the messages about males that seem prevalent on television.

You may be thinking, But you’re a food blogger… what exactly does that have to do with food? Right? And you are absolutely right. It really has nothing to do with food, but as our readers may remember we do sometimes blog about other issues. Sometimes they tie into food and occasionally not. That’s why I created the label, “etc.” because life sometimes is about more than food. I know. That can be hard for some of us foodies to understand! So yes, occasionally we venture into some other areas of life experiences that are important to us.

And The Chef and I have had discussions before about our concerns about this focus that many commercials and TV programs began taking at some point (not sure when), where the male is cast as a stupid, buffoon-like character, while the female (when a female role is in the ad) is the smart, responsible one. Maybe we are wrong, but it just seems to us that more often than not this is found in the commercials.

Here are a few good examples:

FathersAndHusbands.org was founded in 2003 in response to the increasing prevalence of negative representations of fathers, husbands and men in the mass media. Our mission is to redefine the standards by which the value and dignity of fatherhood and the role of the husband are upheld in the media. We seek to achieve this by facilitating the application of business incentives directed at advertising agencies, their holding companies and companies advertising in the mass media.

A statement under the video indicates the ad was pulled by Verizon after a huge protest. Sounds like FathersAndHusbands.org may have been successful with that one.

Okay, one more, and this one does actually happen to be food-related…

So I will admit…. yes, some of them are funny, which I am sure is part of the goal. But I do not like the underlying message in them.

As a mother in particular, I don’t want my children’s view of their Daddy being influenced by this message, rather, I want them to see Daddy more as a hero. He works hard for our family and has many strengths, just as I do as their Mommy, and at their young age they have no way cognitively to apply critical thinking skills to see that these ads should merely be viewed as entertainment and not mold my view of my Daddy.

These are the types of things I will discuss today on the Get Focused Radio program, and I would love for you to join me or listen later from the archives.

 What do you think? Leave your opinion in the comments.

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More great ideas: Titus 2sdays, Tip Me Tuesday, The Mommy Club, Women Living Well Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday