Cookie Monster Advocating Eating Healthy

Sigh. Are we really such mindless, irresponsible drones that we have to change the nature of a classic children's television character? As this article says, "Sacrilege!"…"That's akin to Oscar the Grouch being nice and clean."

I appreciate that they feel the pressure to make the effort. Sesame Street, being on PBS, has a politically-correct (read: societal guilt-ridden) duty to propagate all the right values and morals to make children into peace-loving, tolerant and evolved human beings. But what this article fails to mention is that most of these values are developed from the messages and behaviors encouraged and displayed in the home.

This is just another superficial band-aid to mask over the fact that many parents don't take responsibility for their children. Of all the things that take priority, it's usually not what their kids are learning or doing. They don't monitor who their children hang out with, what they watch on TV, their Internet usage or the fact that they stock their cupboards and refrigerator with processed, high-fat convenience foods. Do I blame (or even recognize) that cookie-gobbling Cookie Monster had anything to do with the fact that I was 55 pounds overweight through most of my late teens and early twenties? No. I take personal responsibility that I was eating things I shouldn't have, in quantities that were outrageous, with almost no exercise to my credit.

It makes me sad when I see morbidly obese children with their morbidly obese parent(s). Parents need to be vigilant in what types of food are purchased and brought home, oversee what their children are eating and encouraging physical activity in all forms.

It's about parents being outraged that their school systems put vending machines, stocked with loads of unhealthy, high-calorie snack foods, in the schools so that they can make money for the school district. It's about making an effort to direct and encourage children to make healthy decisions about their behaviors, including what they eat.

Being the parent of a two girls, one a teenager and one a pre-teen, I hear the constant complaint about how fat they are and how all their friends are so much thinner than they are. One of my youngest daughters friends is severely (and obviously genetically) undersized, easily the smallest in her class. And my youngest is comparing herself to this friend. It makes me crazy. As a runner, I try to be a role model for my girls in regards to physical activity. I felt an enormous amount of guilt that I was in Vegas the very weekend of the Shamrock Run, which my youngest daughter desperately wanted to be her first 5K. However, I can (and will) have her participate with me in any number of fun-runs and 5K's this summer.

The values of proper nutrition and physical activity begin at home. It's as simple as that. I hope that society doesn't believe that changing the nature of a children's television character would somehow change or lessen their responsibility as a parent.