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Friday dilemma: Kids and soft drink - a lethal cocktail?

The Punch Team

by The Punch Team

03 Aug 12:50pm

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Filed under: Children, Friday Dilemma, Nutrition, Soft Drink

64 comments

Child goes to athletics carnival. Said child does not react well to soft drink. Soft drink provided at athletics carnival.


Parent outraged when child has soft drink and enters dangerously irritating and unhealthy sugar high. All compounded by child’s accompanying grandkid giving child whatever he wants.

Should kids be allowed the occasional Coke? Is the parents’ fury all fizz and no calories? Or should parents have the right to dictate their children’s diets? This your Friday dilemma.

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64 comments

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    • M says:

      01:01pm | 03/08/12

      I thought that a parent dicatating a childs diet was responsible parenting? That said, some go too far. I know of a woman who’s child has never had sweets because she’s outright banned them. Surely a child shouldn’t be denied the occaisional treat? I think it’d be better to instill good nutritional practices rather than banning this or that.

      Vegetarian parents who raise vegetarian kids is still akin to child abuse as far as I’m concerned.

      Reply

    • James1 says:

      01:16pm | 03/08/12

      I must agree.  It is not an all or nothing thing when it comes to sugar.  You can allow your child sugar without destroying permanently their approach to human nutrition.

      That said, I draw the line at caffeine.  While I have no problem with moderate levels of sugar, I will not allow my child to drink coke or pepsi until she is at least 12.  I know of one lady who complains about her ADHD kids and how much trouble they are, all the while allowing them to drink as much coke as they please.

      I can top your no sweets example though.  I know of one family who not only withholds all sweets, but they also withhold both Simpsons and Futurama, as well as forcing their kids to be vegetarians.  If you can’t have meat, sugar and cartoons, you might as well be dead.

    • M says:

      01:25pm | 03/08/12

      Those kids will go off the rails when they hit their teens, mark my words.

    • Ellen says:

      02:28pm | 03/08/12

      Why frame vegetarian diets in the negative?  Why ask the reasons why people do not eat meat when one can just as easily ask the reasons why other people seek out the flesh of dead animals?

    • M says:

      02:37pm | 03/08/12

      Because parents, imo, aren’t giving the child the choice, rather they are forcing their own dietary habits upon their children.

      And because I don’t believe the vegetarian diet is even remotely close to healthy.

    • James1 says:

      02:39pm | 03/08/12

      And here come the evangelical vegetarians.

    • Meh says:

      02:49pm | 03/08/12

      Ellen - we are omnivores, our teeth and digestive systems are designed to process both meat and plant materials. We can survive as either herbivore or carnivore, but it is not optimal. Hence why us parents torture our kids by devising devilish ways to get plant materials into them.

      A friend of mine was manning the sausage sizzle at a primary school fair when a kid of about 8 came up “Please may I have a sausage, mum is a vegetarian and I don’t get meat”. One sauce topped snag later and the kid had the hugest smile you ever saw.

    • Meh says:

      02:49pm | 03/08/12

      Ellen - we are omnivores, our teeth and digestive systems are designed to process both meat and plant materials. We can survive as either herbivore or carnivore, but it is not optimal. Hence why us parents torture our kids by devising devilish ways to get plant materials into them.

      A friend of mine was manning the sausage sizzle at a primary school fair when a kid of about 8 came up “Please may I have a sausage, mum is a vegetarian and I don’t get meat”. One sauce topped snag later and the kid had the hugest smile you ever saw.

    • Admiral Ackbar says:

      02:50pm | 03/08/12

      Ellen -  because it’s good for me and delicious when I put dead things in my face hole. I like to wash down my steak with a glass of tears from people who are vegetarian because they are afraid of hurting the animals feelings. Yum!

    • snooch says:

      02:50pm | 03/08/12

      Parents not giving their child a choice and child abuse are fairly far removed. So you don’t think parents force their own views on children in other areas without it being child abuse? That’s a really flimsy argument.

      And just because you “don’t believe” something is “remotely close” to anything shows up your own ignorance more than anything, and certainly doesn’t make it true or factual.

    • Get Real says:

      02:52pm | 03/08/12

      But what if it is the child’s decision to become vegetarian? As is often the case, including myself.

      So you know better than health and nutrition professionals?

    • Ellen says:

      02:52pm | 03/08/12

      “aren’t giving the child choice”?

      As opposed to non-vegetarians who impose their dietary habit of flesh eating upon their offspring?

    • AdamC says:

      02:56pm | 03/08/12

      Re the vegetarian thing, on one level I agree with M and James1. That is, parents should not foist their vegetarianism on their children. On the other hand, I would probably be more sympathetic if vegetarianism was an aspect of the family’s religion. (Many Hindus are vegetarian on spiritual grounds.) But, then again, having been vegetarian for a while myself, it is pretty much a religion in and of itself anyway. So how far can you take it?

      Bottom line, I would never expect my children to be vegetarian and would urge vegetarians to alllow their children to make their own choices in that regard.

    • M says:

      02:58pm | 03/08/12

      Get real, if the child has never tried meat or has been raised to believe that eating animals is bad, is it truly an informed descision on the part of the child? I would suggest not.

    • M says:

      03:00pm | 03/08/12

      Snooch, I veiw instructing the child in the parents religion as child abuse also.

    • M says:

      03:02pm | 03/08/12

      Ellen, that’s a fallous argument, eating meat is natural, not eating meat is not.

    • James1 says:

      03:07pm | 03/08/12

      My daughter tried to go vegetarian last year, so I decided to accommodate her choice.  She lasted from shortly after the ham sandwich she had for lunch, all the way until I started to panfry the fresh whole sand whiting my wife and I would eat for dinner.  When my daughter grudgingly agreed to eat fish, I offered to replace the fish with some tasty vegetables or some tofu fried with garlic and ginger, but for some reason she refused the offer.  Strangely, her desire to help baby sheep by being a vegetarian has not been raised since.

      I wonder how many vegetarians would do the same in reverse for their kids?  Certainly none of the vegetarians I have met.

      In any case, surely even the vegetarians can agree that withholding Simpsons from children is just plain inhumane?

    • M says:

      04:20pm | 03/08/12

      Hear that? it’s the sound of a thousand veggos having their dogma come crashing down around them.

    • bigmuzz says:

      04:42pm | 03/08/12

      RE: The Simpsons. we all went away on a school camp in high school and a couple episodes came on, we’d all of course seen them 10000000+ times and knew every word and wanted to turn them off, but one mate wouldn’t let us cos he’d never seen them before! his parents never allowed him to watch The Simpsons when he was growing up (even in high school). Mind = Blown! raspberry

    • Mr. Jordon says:

      04:57pm | 03/08/12

      My 8 year old has never had a soft drink.

      A child can’t miss something that they have never had.

      Plus, what we feed our children will affect health in later life. If they want to drink soft drinks when their 18, so be. But a parents job is to keep their kids safe and healthy.

    • Gordon says:

      05:47pm | 03/08/12

      umm Ellen, because eating the flesh of live animals is needlessly energetic?

    • libertarian vegetarian says:

      06:22pm | 03/08/12

      @M
      I almost fell over laughing at the “healthwyze” one.
      It’s “powered with Gods Medicine” and contains anti-vaccination articles on how “the connection to autism has already been repeatedly and scientifically established” and how they also cause SIDS.
      These people are WAY bigger whack jobs than any of the veggo whackjobs I know, and I’ve met some pretty whacked out people.
      Thanks for helping the cause but linking to this stuff though:)

    • Get Real says:

      03:31pm | 04/08/12

      M, I’m talking about a child finding out themselves what the realties are for farm animals and then deciding not to support that anymore.  If this is the case there is nothing wrong with that.

      Meh, I could just as easily find a picture of a beautiful vegetarian woman and a picture of an unattractive meat eating woman the same age, so what’s your point?

      I find it strange how it is often said that vegetarians do not respect other people’s food choices yet I’ve found it’s actually almost always the opposite and this is a perfect example.

    • KC says:

      01:11pm | 03/08/12

      My kids are banned from Coke and have never complained (they are now 12 and 15),  but they do drink the occasional lemonade or Coke Zero.  The double whammy of caffeine and sugar combined is out!!  If they have soft drinks it is mostly the sugar free ones.  I have no problem with soft drinks as a treat, but they are empty calories if they have sugar.  Mostly they have water.

      Reply

    • Justme says:

      04:46pm | 03/08/12

      But you have no problem with them ingesting artificial sweeteners?

    • David C says:

      07:18pm | 03/08/12

      So orange juice is OK but not soft drink? arent they both sugar?

    • TC says:

      02:19am | 04/08/12

      DavidC if you believe orange juice and soft drink are the same I really pity you.  Orange juice isn’t great but it is the healthiest thing in the world compared to soft drink.  Any parent who gives their child soft drink is an idiot…...fact.  Vegie diets v meat doesnt come into it compared to soft drink v non soft drink

    • Dazeddazza says:

      12:22pm | 05/08/12

      Your kids are 12 and 15, and drink the occasional lemonade and Coke Zero?.  I guess you follow them everywhere, and make them account for spending their pocket money with receipts?  Dream on,  they have had more Coca Cola full strength than you know!!!.

    • ex-coke head says:

      03:20pm | 06/08/12

      KC normal coke is much better for you than both coke zero and diet coke. 
      The coke in the glass bottles is better than the cans and plastic as is uses sugar instead of corn syrup as the sweetener, or use to when I drank the stuff years ago. I couldn’t tell you about nowdays as I don’t drink softdrinks any more.

    • Queensland Observer says:

      01:12pm | 03/08/12

      How old is the child? Is the child’s behaviour wholly due to the coke, or was the child bouncing off walls due to the excitement of participating in the athletics carnival?

      Personally I think a very occasional half-glass of coke is okay, as long as the child is drinking enough water (or milk/juice) before and afterwards. I also think ‘special occasion’ food is okay as long as it is restricted to ‘special occasions’ and not every day and that the child understands this.

      As for parent’s dictating children’s diets? Only if there is a medical reason to do so. If the child doesn’t have a medical reason to not eat particular food, I would say let the child occasionally experiment with different sorts of food, as long as they are eating well balanced meals the rest of the time.

      Reply

    • Ellen says:

      02:56pm | 03/08/12

      “Well it was perfectly obvious to me the first day here, I fear.  I wondered then as I wonder now if he hadnít turned out a very different boy indeed if you had administered a few fatal beatings early on.”

      —Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Headmaster’ sketch

    • Ellen says:

      02:56pm | 03/08/12

      “Well it was perfectly obvious to me the first day here, I fear.  I wondered then as I wonder now if he hadn’t turned out a very different boy indeed if you had administered a few fatal beatings early on.”

      —Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Headmaster’ sketch

    • Bertrand says:

      06:17pm | 03/08/12

      I was having the diet conversation with a teacher friend the other day.

      She noted that the worst behaved kids are invariably the ones who turn up to school with a pack of chip and a bottle of coke for lunch.

      The question is… does the poor diet cause the poor behaviour, or is the poor diet symptomatic of a household without boundaries and discipline, which is therefore reflected in poor school behaviour.

      My guess is its a bit of both and works in a vicious cycle.

    • pa_kelvin says:

      01:32pm | 03/08/12

      My grand-daughter has severe allergies (epi-pen always carried) and has learnt what she can and can’t eat. When all 7 grandkids are over my wife makes a point of buying treats (safe custard tarts and a type of rocky road(yuck)  ) that all the kids can eat so that she is not left out….All the kids also love fruit so thats a bonus…...Happy times when they visit ,sure glad to rest when they leave. smile

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      01:39pm | 03/08/12

      I’m all for kids being given coke, but they need to wait til their a bit older for the hookers.

      Reply

    • A Different Rosie says:

      07:25pm | 04/08/12

      Well, according to the article this kid’s problem was “compounded by child’s accompanying grandkid giving child whatever he wants” so I reckon he’s old enough for both.  But he should leave the grandkid home.

    • Colin says:

      01:41pm | 03/08/12

      Obviously most parents believe that their children should be allowed to eat and drink whatever they want, whenever they want, in as great a quantity as they want…As is evidenced by the rampant obesity of our young.

      Reply

    • Mahhrat says:

      01:44pm | 03/08/12

      When my daughter was 5 or 6, we had an Easter where she managed to eat three packets of Wizz Fizz between about 9am and 1pm, along with lunch and probably a small chocolate bunny.

      She was literally - and I emphasise literally - bouncing everywhere.  Not running, not hopping or dancing, but bouncing.  Off the furniture, the floor, the walls, me, you name it.  It wasn’t good, and I missed the second and third sherberts.

      At about 3pm she came up to me, red-eyed and wild and said, “Daddy, I’m thirsty.”  Yup, she was coming off that high and didn’t look the best.

      I poured a big drink into her, then gave her a cuddle - where she slept for 3 hours, went home, stayed up for an hour or so, then crashed for the night.

      All was fine, but since then she actually moderates her own sugar intake because she knows what it can do to young kids!  Great lesson learned.

      Reply

    • pa_kelvin says:

      02:05pm | 03/08/12

      Almost like giving them a cigar to stop them smoking. smile

    • St. Michael says:

      02:52pm | 03/08/12

      I must say, my parents gave me a teaspoon of Bundaberg Rum when I was about eleven or so.  Kept me away from the stuff, and alcohol generally, for a good decade or so.  (Well, that and watching other 18 year olds fall over like morons, but anyway.)

    • sunny says:

      04:06pm | 03/08/12

      I was hooked on Wizz Fizz when I was a kid and it didn’t do me any harm ..apart from my Stevie Nicks nostril.

    • Libby says:

      02:06pm | 03/08/12

      I personally believe that caffeine of any kind should never be given to a pre-teen child, and teenagers should be encouraged to have coke and the like as only a special treat food.  I have solved the problem with my little one by buying sparkling water - that way when he wants to have ‘bubbles’ like mummy does, we are both happy with the outcome!

      Reply

    • Tbird says:

      05:20pm | 03/08/12

      What’s the substitute for “mummy’s little helpers”?

    • Rose says:

      01:51pm | 04/08/12

      Nothing makes something more attractive to kids than banning it. Coke etc should be restricted but not banned, I can all but guarantee that when your kid gets a spot of freedom that they will bust out and eat and drink whatever they want. This is what I’ve noticed with kids I know, some of their parents still don’t know what they get up to when their backs are turned.

    • Zeta says:

      02:45pm | 03/08/12

      This is the biggest load of dog’s bollocks I’ve seen since an embarrasing auto correct fail saw me order four and a half kilograms of actual dog’s bollocks from my local rural supply store.

      Kid’s are boring at the best of times. Sure, you can mix it up a bit by giving them a puzzle, or letting them play the ‘No Russian’ level on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but otherwise, they’re really pretty dull creatures.

      When I babysit my godchildren (someone actually made that mistake, and I have stood in a Church long enough to be granted that title), the first thing I do is give them a can of Coke each to spice things up a bit.

      Suddenly, a mundane afternoon of watching Cars for the 20th f***ing time because an explosion of excitement as we go to the roof of my apartment building and throw rocks at birds, or hack their mother’s Facebook account and tell her work friends she just ate a poo sandwich.

      Caffeine makes kids fun.

      Reply

    • St. Michael says:

      02:58pm | 03/08/12

      Have you got a website for your child care centre, Zeta?

    • Zeta says:

      03:09pm | 03/08/12

      No, it’s more a boutique thing. My style of child care isn’t for every one, but if you want your children to learn the history of Norwegian Black Metal, knife fighting, demolitions, and prison cooking, you can find my number scrawled on the toilet doors of select conveniences near most capital cities.

    • M says:

      06:29am | 04/08/12

      Do you take cash or eftpos

    • St. Michael says:

      02:54pm | 03/08/12

      “All compounded by child’s accompanying grandkid giving child whatever he wants.”

      If your child has grandkids when they’re still attending Athletics Carnivals, you giving your child Coke is the least of his problems.  Or indeed yours.

      Reply

    • Arnold Layne says:

      03:36pm | 03/08/12

      There’s little doubt that diet affects the ability of children to concentrate.  Having said that, an occasional treat during holidays or on weekends is fine.  My two are allowed lemon squash or lemonade for a treat but not Coke/Pepsi.  Same for lollies etc.  Having said that, my son in particular plays sport almost every day of the week and is very fit, so sugary stuff has little effect on him in terms of putting weight on.  On the other hand it’s all the more important that he eats well to get the right kind of energy, fats, protein etc.  There’s no point getting totally silly about it though unless your child has a genuiine allergy or medical condition of course.  If he or she goes to a birthday party, you have to accept that they’ll eat a few Cheezels and a party pie or two.  In my experience, most of them only have a small amount anyway because they’re too busy playing.  You can then give them something healthy for dinner when they get home (if they’re hungry).

      In terms of the original dilemma, I think a parent has every right to ask that their child not be given Coke.  If it was the grandparent who did it on the day, it’s more of an issue for the family than the venue.  It’s not the venue’s fault that Coke is available for purchase.

      Reply

    • Gordon says:

      05:43pm | 03/08/12

      Child was probably irriating and dangerous before the soft drink. Parent is certainly irritating 24/7.

      Reply

    • the spam sandwich eater says:

      06:02pm | 03/08/12

      junk food leads to junk mail, just brain food and junk kids

      Reply

    • LC says:

      06:29pm | 03/08/12

      FFS, the occasional fizzy drink isn’t going to kill them…

      Reply

    • xar says:

      07:10pm | 03/08/12

      the whole “sugar high” thing is a bit of a myth, sure sugar will give you energy, but it wont make you hyper, it is just that the kinds of places kids get lots of sugar are places (like parties and event days) that are very exciting. There are a bunch of artificial additives which can make kids mood swing from hyper to crying though, and that is the usual culprit, not sugar. My son is 13 and aside from a very rare glass of lemonade ( maybe once a month) he doesn’t have soft drink. At first because he was not allowed, and later because he simply doesn’t like it. growing kids should NOT be offered caffeinated drinks full stop.

      Reply

    • Student says:

      09:28pm | 03/08/12

      Well, I personally think that parents should n…..... *gets distracted by Beavis and Butt-head* huh-huh-huh! Cornholio!

      Reply

    • Daylight robbery says:

      04:58am | 04/08/12

      Do certain demographics of children do a whole lot less exercise than they used too?
      Lets face it many don’t walk to school anymore. Many don’t even ride their bike to their mates house anymore at the risk of assault or run over.

      As a highschool kid I used to eat 16 Weetbix with a table spoon of sugar in each bowl of 4, 2 hours before dinner but never grew fat.

      The issue appears that one can of soft drink is way way too big as a serving.  Mind you in the 80s many brickies and their labourers would drink 1.25 litres of Coke every day with a sugar laiden iced coffee for breakfast.

      Have you seen the sugar etc that goes into grandmas cakes?

      This is how you end up with the reverse bicep commonly known as ‘Bingo wings’

      Mix sugar with flour and the results are your children resembling jam cream bun. 
      You are what you eat surely although recent observations of young fat kids seems to be they are gorging on junk food then playing video games on the couch. 
      Parents do nothing to slow them and wont let them down the park for fear of the dangers of the world.

      Reply

    • NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

      06:06am | 04/08/12

      Hi Punch Team,

      I personally feel that amount of sugar is one of the least of our worries when it comes to consuming fizzy drinks.  It is more about the amount chemicals, caffeine, saccharine and colouring agents in most fizzy drinks.  As toddlers my friends’ children were offered these kind of drinks on occasion and now that they are all teenagers, they are bound to go through litres of this much almost debatable harmless drink, right?  What is so wrong with good old bottle of water firstly to quench our thirst.  It could be a little difficult in the beginning but it is definitely worth trying and giving it a go instead.

      And you know what most of my Japanese and Malaysian friends only drink green or jasmine tea, with their meals.  The actual taste is indescribable and so refreshing.  Surely millions of people who have done this way, can not be wrong.  By the way consuming sugary and artificially sweetened products are not that great for you. Simply because ideally we all need to consume at least 2 litres of pure water for our general well being.  And if no one gets the basic information about the goodness of water instead of drinking soft drinks, we have utterly and surely failed in our parenting skills somewhere along the way.  Kind regards to your editors.

      Reply

    • Joan Bennett says:

      08:41am | 09/08/12

      Ellen, vegetarian diets often lack iron or B12.  You can get around this, but most people don’t.  I’ve yet to meet a vegetarian who had good health (and I’ve met a lot in my life).  Other creatures are omnivorous, so not sure why you think humans eating other animals is so bad?  Or do you think bears (and wild pigs) are disgusting, too?  As long as you don’t get meat from factory farming, you can take out the cruelty argument as well.

      Reply

    • acheter wow gold says:

      10:36am | 25/10/12

      Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I?l make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I?l certainly return.

      Reply
 
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