Parents must speak up!

www.thelighterweigh.com

It has been a very hot weekend here in New York and like many parents, I have spent the weekend at the local pool club. And like most local pool clubs, the snack bar area only serves junk. I looked at the menu and had a difficult time finding something healthy that the average child would want to eat. Sure they had salads (with full-fat dressings)- but few children will eat salad for lunch. Our pool club has a no strict substitutions policy so I couldn't even make their "healthy" wrap sandwich into a "healthy" lunch. At about 300 calories just for the wrap itself, wraps are not healthy at all. And the wrap sandwiches at our pool come with full-fat cheese and mayonnaise. The children's menu is typical- pizza, chicken nuggets and fries, and grilled cheese (glistening from all the butter and oil) with fries.

Snack time is no better. Snack choices are regular potato chips, ices, ice cream, and a $7 small fruit salad. Would it kill them to throw in some pretzels or a healthy granola bar? Even a 100-calorie pack of something would be great.

Today I had enough. I cornered our local Mayor (who runs our pool club) and told him how unhappy I was with the choices offered. To my surprise, he was very amenable to my suggestions. He agreed to have me sit down with the snack bar manager to give my recommendations. Just like that- no arguing, no nagging.

Maybe if every parent spoke up, we could make some change. Let's all give it a try. Make sure the owners of your local pools, restaurants, and other eating establishments know that we want (we demand) healthy options for our children.