"It's good for you"

Tricks are for kids ...

When we were kids

we got our nutritional advice

from experts like

Tony the Tiger,

who moonlighted in a thin disguise

pushing petroleum --

at the same time as

the GRReat flakes.

delicious by-products

repackaged as coloured loops

well loved by toucans

the world over.

We never stopped to think

that he would sooner eat the rabbit

who pedaled balls

of the same sugary corn.

Kids now are more enlightened,

and recognize a scam.

yet they eat more,

and breathe less;

their ever expanding

waist lines correlated

to their

ever shrinking minds,

happily munching

on quinoa

with a side

of internet porn.

Author's Note

* Tony the Tiger -- Kellogg's/Esso, Trix cereal, and Froot Loops -- all owned by one corporation or another.

Reviews

[Chris A Jones]

Way to put a real problem into perspective. They should run this as an ad for awareness. Thanks for sharing.

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you, I was in a bit of a mood that day.:)

[Chris A Jones]

It's a good statement, whatever the mood. You are welcome.

[Tony Jordan]

The next generation of consumers are groomed quite efficiently by the ad-man and his master.
Soon the ads will cry out personally to them via their smart-phones !! Imagine that ...the bastids!
Another excellent piece KL.
:)

[Lyn Anderson]

Thank you. We will soon have tongues a wagging in this place -- mutual banter and all ...:)

[Tony Jordan]

Haha wouldnt be this place without it.
xD

[Bacchus]

what sadness
when childhoods
are stolen
by greedy adults
what a sick stomach this left me with
like that sugary crash

[Lyn Anderson]

Ah yes, you get the darker part of this message. Thank you.

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

You make some interesting points in this insightful poem... and to each his own, I mean our generation lived through it. None the less a greatly worded poem.

[Lyn Anderson]

Thanks. I don't think we lived through anything like today's onslaught of smut -- and strangers couldn't reach out and touch us from other countries. But yes, I know they will survive.

[Papaya]

I love quinoa and porn, but you're right. One of the two I will not feed my children. It's such a pain in the but to get them out sometimes. I get that it's snowy and cold but tobogganing is fun! Thank god they like skiing at least. Summer is easier obviously.

[Lyn Anderson]

I guess I just find it funny we shutter our children indoors to watch tv and sit at the computer -- where most the stranger danger actually is.

[Papaya]

I totally agree. I monitor everything but I know a lot of parents that are not quite as computer literate or savvy.

[Lydia Shutter]

Smiling here.....you have this so in focus! Today's children are more out of shape and too overweight than we ever were even eating our Sugar Pops, Lucky Charms, and Frosted Flakes! Getting outside and playing in the street might help them...a lot more than that dish of quinoa! Kale eaten while watching an iPad is not healthy for anyone. Loved it! Lydi**

[Lyn Anderson]

Thanks. Appears like we speak the same language.

[Lydia Shutter]

Absolutely....you knew that a long time ago! :)

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Oh a deeply cynical take on the modern generation and their breakfast habits. Took me back though and you hit the nail on the head, highlighting our naivety back then as we trusted the corporations and governments to feed us well. Not so now in this greed filled, intolerant, self obsessed, world of instant gratification. Well captured.

[Lyn Anderson]

We were old-fashioned, and naïve. Yes, in many ways. Yet I listen to this hollow gobbelygook spilling from YouTube and I fear for my kids ... Thank you for reading and reviewing, as always.