Assignment 2

2. Proposal to improve the diet of Swedish children and teenagers (proposal)

The Responsibility of Parents

In recent years the diet of the average Swedish child has become increasingly unhealthy, and concerns ranging from undernourishment to obesity have grown more acute. Junk food, sweets and soft drinks are frequently pointed at as the main culprits and various methods for countering their effect have been proposed and tried. One initiative has been that of spreading awareness of the mechanisms of (mal)nutrition through the educational system, and improvements have been made in the already decent selection of meals served in schools. Other campaigns have addressed children directly in an attempt to influence their choices and habits. While this type of initiatives certainly are good it is of utmost importance to recognize that the key changes that need to occur fall within the domain of parenting.

The control of children's food intake lies, in all but the most unusual cases, in the hands of their parents. In a typical school week the typical child will eat five meals in school and an estimate of sixteen meals at home. Additionally, any food a child acquires on his or her own is most likely purchased with the allowance granted by the parents. Thus, even without mentioning food intake occurring in between regular meals, it stands clear that parents are responsible for the largest part of the child's diet. Furthermore, an unhealthy diet is in many cases presumably a problem shared by both children and adults within a household, and it is the latter that cook and serve the food.

One basic and universal remedy is the cooking of healthier food, with equal emphasis on the act of cooking and the selection of healthy ingredients. Heavily processed and pre-cooked foods, which are products often containing an overabundance of fat, salt and various additives, need to be replaced with raw and fresh goods. A general return to the use of traditional staple foods is also advised. Subsequently, healthy ingredients must be used in cooking approached as something less extraordinary, with the nutritional goodness of the food as the focal point instead of superfluous attention to aesthetic ornaments and trendiness. It is of importance to those who usually shy away from cooking that the activity can be made easy and uncomplicated while still having palatable and healthy results.

When addressing the role of adults further one may mention a few more clear cut matters of parenting. Indulging a child with separate meals, junk food and sweets can have disastrous consequences and should therefore be avoided. It also falls within the parents' purview to dictate what a child's allowance might be used for. Finally, proactive measures such as inspiring moderateness on a general level should also be encouraged.

After concluding that the diet of children and the responsibility of parents are closely bound the proposition briefly presented above should appear reasonable. The general shifts in attitude and approach to food would not only have an immediate effect on the health of both children and adults, but would also influence the young as they grow up and become responsible for a new generation.