Post: Teaching Kids Label Lingo
Teaching Kids Label Lingo
As I prepped my media literacy session for 8th graders to be in Unger Educational Media’s new film, “The Math & Reading of What We’re Eating: An Experiment with Food Labels” I decided extruding simple data from FDA food labeling is more challenging than scraping glitter glue off a favorite outfit.
Shaping Youth uses media literacy as a counter-marketing tool all the time, so I have no problem "targeting my market" to gear the film session toward the brands and products that are flying in the faces of these kids. But wow, food labels are dicey.
Most of us aren’t even sure what they MEAN. FDA standards are ever-changing: Lean and Low Sodium have recently been updated, Low Fat, Reduced Fat, Less Fat, Fat Free, Light are all quantifiable regulatory claims…
So which packaging terms are legit and which ones are bogus?
It’s dizzying in complexity. No wonder CSPI calls food labeling the Tower of Babel. CSPI recently filed for an FDA labeling overhaul requesting ONE set of universal standards. Yay.
It’s gonzo training kids how to spot the spin of advertisers when product claims, nutrient boasts, screaming headlines and self-awarded nutrition seals inextricably enmesh.
Shaping Youth sends kids home with interactive mindfulness like PBS’ “Don’t buy it” for hands-on fun…But frankly, as a parent, I’m TIRED of food packaging games.
Read the rest of this entry on the Shaping Youth blog, where it originally appeared.
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Date: January 3, 2007
Add to the "food packaging games" the fact that nutritional science is a very active field in which very preamture research often gets latched upon by consumer action groups, and it gets even more complicated. How many people know what 'trans fats' are? How many know exactly how it works on the human body? Even if the scientists themselves are currently debating it, both sides defending their products and those who believe they are fighting for the health of their children will fight with vigor.
What will help kids more than anything is teaching them to be inquisitive, not afraid to learn scientific things, and not afraid to question and challenge everything they hear, regardless of the source. As a parent, you might not like the idea that your kid could go behind your back and do research on their own and tell you that you're wrong. However, teaching them to never stop learning and not be bullied into believing any side of any argument without hard scientific evidence will help them for the rest of their life.