Tag Archives: parenting

Aww, puh-leeeeeeeeeze?

The following information is taken from Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser, from a chapter which talks about the marketing of fast food to children.

James U. McNeal, a professor of marketing at Texas A&M University, is considered America’s leading authority on marketing to children. In his book Kids as Customers (1992), McNeal provides marketers with a thorough analysis of "children’s requesting styles and appeals." He classifies juvenile nagging tactics into seven major categories.

  1. A pleading nag is one accompanied by repetitions of words like "please" or "mom, mom, mom."
  2. A persistent nag involves constant requests for the coveted product and may include the phrase "I’m gonna ask just one more time."
  3. Forceful nags are extremely pushy and may include subtle threats, like "Well, then, I’ll go and ask Dad."
  4. Demonstrative nags are the most high-risk, often characterized by full-blown tantrums in public places, breath-holding, tears, a refusal to leave the store.
  5. Sugar-coated nags promise affection in return for purchase and may rely on seemingly heartfelt declarations like "You’re the best dad in the world."
  6. Threatening nags are youthful forms of blackmail, vows of eternal hatred and of running away if something isn’t bought.
  7. Pity nags claim the child will be heartbroken, teased, or socially stunted if the parent refuses to buy a certain item.

"All of these appeals and styles may be used in combination," McNeal’s research has discovered, "but kids tend to stick to one or two of each that prove most effective… for their own parents."

I don’t recall which methods I found most effective as a child.

Lies my parents told me

If you’ve ever cooked rice in a rice cooker, you’ll have noticed the papery residue that gets left around the rim. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with how rice paper wrappers are made, but they’re pretty thin and brittle, so it seems likely. However, it’s a lot easier to go down to your local Asian supermarket, where they will sell you rice paper in small sheets.

When I was young, I spent quite a lot of time in the kitchen. One day I saw my mother making Christmas macaroons. Part of the trick to macaroons is that you line the baking tray with small pieces of rice paper, so that the macaroons don’t stick.

I liked the macaroons, but I was fascinated by the rice paper stuck to the bottom of them. It was like paper… but you could eat it! It just dissolved in your mouth!

Later on I found the rice paper in the pantry. One thing led to another. I don’t know whether rice paper is expensive, but I do know that mum didn’t want me eating it by the sheet. So she told me that it was only called rice paper, and that it wasn’t actually rice. She told me that it wasn’t really edible. It was like those shiny metallic cake decorations. On no account was I to risk my health by eating it.

I obediently began peeling my macaroons. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered the awful truth.