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Parents Get a Bad Taste of the Ice Cream Truck
They try so hard to keep their kids healthy, but parents in New York City say all those organic lunches and fruit salad snacks are losing out to the lure of the ice cream truck.
Parked beside schools and playgrounds, the trucks are acting as pied pipers of the prepubescent set, and the city’s taking cash to make it happen.
The truck’s owners pay a fee to get the prime piece of real estate, and it works. As one mom says, they’ve got a “trapped audience.” Every parent has to walk their kid out of a school building, and ta da, there’s a sweet treat just waiting to be begged for. Other parents decry their placement near the parks, where they’re taking the kids to get exercise (and fight childhood obesity), not load up on snacks.
I feel for them. My day job is near an ice cream stand, and when they open up for the summer, I can hear the soft serve machine calling my name. And I grew up in the “just say no” era. Driving by with my daughter, you’d think we were passing McDonald’s (can we stop, Mommy, please, please?). Fortunately, I can take another route when we leave her nursery school, and she’s rarely the wiser. To have it outside would drive us bananas.
Studies have also shown the nearer a fast food restaurant to a school, the higher risk for obese kids. In other words? If they can see the golden arches – or the freckle-faced girl – they can . . . and will . . . walk there.
It’s hard to ALWAYS be the mom who has to say no without seeming like the heavy. So I can’t blame the parents for being cranky.
But what’s to stop an ice cream stand from opening up near a school? It would be as smart a move as the one that truck driver is making. And nothing’s stopping Mickey D’s and Burger King from moving into the neighborhood. If anything, these trucks are less of a hazard because they’re there on a part-time basis. Fast food joints are here to stay, every day all year long.
And to the parent who says “they might as well be selling drugs,” get a grip. It’s ice cream. It’s not healthy for you, but an occasional cone (she lets her daughter have two a month) is not going to kill them.
Would you be fighting the ice cream truck if it set up shop near your kid’s school? Or would you set some boundaries with your kids?
Image/Source: NY Daily News
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6 Comments
[...] not alone if you, like these NYC parents, have been plagued by the ice cream truck’s persistent circling and the ensuing energy surge and [...]
10 Summer Bummers and Babble’s Cure-Alls | Strollerderby commented on Jul 27 09 at 12:00 pmcarefree childhood commented on Jun 04 09 at 12:10 pmI don’t like ice cream trucks (and worse icy carts) in front of my kids’ school. But you can’t outlaw every thing that is bad from anywhere near a school. It is up to parents to say no.
km commented on Jun 04 09 at 12:19 pmI allowed my children to believe, for almost four years, that the ice cream truck was really just a “music truck” sent around the neighborhood to make everyone annoyed, I mean, really happy.
But now they’re 6 and 4 and they know what’s up. And it seems we are constantly surrounded by ice cream trucks–one at the park, two go around our neighborhood (apparently, we live on the corner where two routes intersect–awesome!), one by my mom’s house, and, to boot, we live about 3 blocks from an ice cream/donut shop.
I don’t begrudge the ice cream vendors. More power to them, if they can drive around all day in a van blasting tinny, crappy carny music serving ice cream to sweaty little kids. The ice cream truck is such a symbol of summer, though, and as loathe as I am to hear it coming down the block, I have fond memories of ice cream treats when I was a kid.
It’s pretty low to compare the ice cream truck to drugs. I mean, really?! Should we have “Ice Cream-Free Zones”? I can just picture the new “Law and Order” ripped from the headlines episode…Really parents, get a grip, and say “No” to your kid if you don’t want them to have ice cream.
ChiLaura commented on Jun 04 09 at 3:24 pmAmen, km! Why can’t people just tell their kids, “No”? What’s wrong with ice cream as a special treat on a hot summer day at the park? My son is only 3, but we’ve not yet had a tantrum when I’ve said “no” to the ice cream or when I’ve just told him that I left my money at home. How are these vendors supposed to make a buck if they’re going to be told that they can’t park within 1000 feet of anywhere kids might gather? Tell your kid no and be done with it!
Callie commented on Jun 12 09 at 1:38 pmI agree. Learn to tell your kids no. It’s not business owners’ responsibility to teach your kids healthy eating habits.
anothermom commented on Sep 01 09 at 2:28 amCommentsIt’s TOO much, though. We are surrounded by sugar and “treats” everywhere; the park, at school, the hardware store, the bodega, the P.O. I moved from NYC to SoCal and the difference is amazing. It is not a constant request because the exposure is reasonable. There are too many ice cream trucks and I’d be happy if they all went out of business!
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