The Institute of Medicine issued a report this year recommending that tv characters and advertising should stop promoting junk food to young children. In response, it seems that Sesame Street is slowly revamping its "Cookie Monster" character. Cookie Monster will now recognize cookies as a "sometime" food rather than a regular food.
I really don't know what to make of this report. I'm sure children are affected by junk food advertising and associations, but this seems to miss one crucial point: children are dependent on their parents for food. If parents don't buy any cookies, how can the children eat them? (Unless they're in the schools, which is worthy of another blog.) At the grocery store, I see parents with kids loading up their grocery carts with cookies, candy, soda pop, etc. I would think that educating parents should be a higher priority than taming the Cookie Monster.
