An article which looks at the benefits of children's play, like exercise and social skills. it explains that in the fifties and sixties, children were able to burn off their high-fat diet because they were always active, but that technology has not only caused an increase in obesity, it is also preventing them learning social interaction.
I am really concerned about the physical and social wellbeing of the children who are alive in these modern times. Although most people use computers, mobile phones, MP3 players, etc, it does worry me that over indulgence in these kinds of devices, and the decline of physical activity, has affected, not just the children's health, but their social, mental and physical skills as well. When I was a child, in the late fifties and the sixties, it was usual to see children playing out of doors. These days it is a rare sight, but on the estate where I grew up, where there were many young families, all of the children played in the park which was beyond our back garden. It was normal to see young girls with skipping ropes or boys playing football. I myself was an expert at juggling three tennis balls and I could keep them up for hours. I also used to enjoy using a tennis racket to hit a ball against the side of the house. Just like all the other children, I loved being outside.
I know that in many magazines these days, there are many articles about the rise in cases of childhood obesity, relating to the fact that children eat too much junk food and do not get enough exercise. But I want to examine the argument from a slightly different angle. First; I want us to look at the truth about the eating habits of children - and adults - in the so called “good old days” and second; I want to explain my views about the decline of social, mental and physical skills, which many modern children are sadly lacking, even though they, and their parents, may not realize it straight awa more. You may agree with all, or part of what I write, or you may disagree; but whatever your personal opinion is, if this article prompts debate and discussion about the issues involved, then I have done my part.
The truth about children's diet, now, and in the “good old days”.
People nowadays have a habit of saying,” in the old days children ate more healthily than they do today”. Establishments like mcDonald's and KFC have become the scapegoats, the villains of the piece, and I don't really think this is fair; because all of the so called “junk food restaurants” now have healthy options, like salads, to choose from. They have all jumped on the bandwagon of healthy eating, have cut down on their salt and some have completely cut out their trans-fat content while others have begun to reduce it considerably.
School meals have also, recently come into the spotlight. They have, for many years, been unhealthy; but now, thanks to Jamie Oliver, things are improving on that score as well.
Let us, therefore, start by looking at the staple diet of the average child in the fifties and sixties, when my sister and I were young. The truth is that during the late fifties and the sixties, most people ate a high fat, high cholesterol and high sugar diet. Maybe this had something to do with the fact that the adult population had had to cope with 13 years of food rationing (1940-1953) so they were determined to make the most of things, once there were no more restrictions. At any rate, there was only one kind of dairy produce available - the full fat kind. It was usual to spread butter on our bread, because even though margarine was available, it was considered inferior and very few households used it. Our mothers would always use 'lard', which is a solid block of animal fat, in their baking and deep-fat-frying, and would often use 'beef dripping', which is the high fat, congealed residue, taken from roasted beef, in their shallow frying. Shallow frying was the favored method of cooking food like, bacon, sausage, meat chops, or liver, as it often is today! But these days it is usual to fry with vegetable oil, which does not turn back to solid fat when it gets into your system and many health- conscious people these days prefer to grill their food instead.
No one worried about health and calories when I was young. It was acceptable at dinner time to have a large stodgy main course, such as beef stew, thickened by 'cow's heel' and, maybe, topped with suet dumplings (suet was made of shredded lard) or perhaps our meat might be accompanied by chipped potatoes, deep- fried in the chip pan. The main course would be followed by an equally stodgy pudding. Deserts like bread and butter pudding, made with plenty of sugar, treacle sponge cake, or the eternal favorite, apple pie with double cream or custard, would usually be the norm. Yogurt had not been heard of yet and no one would have bothered with it if they had heard of it! No one was interested in so-called fad diets, anyone who was discovered to be a vegetarian was considered to be, one nut-roast short of a Christmas dinner. It is understandable, therefore, that people would be wary of anything that would be thought of as 'not normal'. My mother used to try and get my sister and me to eat fruit, but if we could avoid it and have a biscuit instead, we would do that. All children are the same when it comes to wanting to eat the wrong things.
