Originally published July 29 2005
Dietician educates children to make them wiser consumers
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dietician Melinda Hemmelgarn urges parents to talk to their kids about media messages in order to help them learn to make informed choices about advertisers and products and to stop them from begging for heavily advertised, unhealthy foods.
Harvard psychologist Susan Linn, author of "Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood," explains, "One 30-second commercial influences the brand-preferences of children as young as 2."
It's no accident that kids whine and beg for heavily advertised brands of sugary cereals, soft drinks, snack cakes and fast food.
And it's no wonder that the American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents to limit children's screen time, monitor children's programs and teach children to question what they watch.
By teaching children how to recognize, analyze, evaluate and even produce their own media messages, we provide them with the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate through today's media-saturated society.
Faith Rogow, president of the Alliance for a Media Literate America, and Petra Hesse, associate professor of human development at Wheelock College in Boston, believe media education should begin when exposure to media begins.
Because children tend to spend more time with media during the summer, use the opportunity to talk about the following set of core media literacy concepts with your entire family.
Do they know why commercials are on TV?
Many children don't realize that TV programs exist to attract audiences for advertisers.
Point out when and why an actor is smoking, drinking or consuming a name brand product.
Here's a surprise: In the early 1980s, actor Sylvester Stallone agreed to use Brown and Williamson tobacco products in no fewer than five feature films for a fee of $500,000.
Ads often transfer an emotion from one symbol or lifestyle onto another, usually a product or behavior.
Media constructs reality and establishes what's considered "normal."
Media literacy is essential, not only for making smart choices in the food and beverage marketplace but also for being an active, informed and responsible citizen in a democracy.
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