A tag team effort from Natural Aussie Families Amy and her daughter, who took part in Kids Super Snaps. Here’s what ten year old Chloe saw and what she would like to see changed in our supermarkets…
Natural Aussie Girl
I was given a task, to take photos. The photos I took were most appealing and not necessarily junky nor healthy. I do look out for fruit but sometimes, unhealthy things catch my attention. I took photos of: soft drinks, milks, chocolates, chips, lollies, soups and some fruits. The fruits caught my eye from colourful colours and because of the area. I took a photo of ice- the reason behind this is I always look at it and I also like to suck on ice, it’s yum.
The next thing I wanted to discuss is the fact of what types of food catch my attention. If I was to buy these types of products, I wouldn’t get my proper healthy meal. There is fats, fruits and vegetables, dairy and protein. There is a lot missing- including the amount of daily intake. Most popular attracted items appear to either have sodium or sugar.
Finally, I have thought of an idea to get more healthy foods attention. To do this I think we should reduce the amount of lollies, reduce healthy foods price and raise the price of most popular junk foods. This will make sure kids get healthier and skinnier. Only some fatty foods should be cheap.
Natural Aussie Mum
Trawling through the supermarket, I noticed Chloe was drawn to bright colours and big displays. She zeroed in on the bright capsicum which she loves to nibble on, as well as big block displays of primary colours, like stack of soft drink cartons and towers of discounted chips. Not all the displays caught her eye- a pillar of half price energy drinks was passed by, either due to the black colour or her unfamiliarity with the product itself. Treat foods like chocolate, lollies and chips were featured prominently.
The visual appeal of our fruits and veggies is pretty good. Big displays of red or green apples, yellow bananas, orange carrots and healthy greens look quite appealing to me but obviously lack the wow factor of packaged foods.
Perhaps the only real solution is as Natural Aussie Girl suggested- reduce the range of junk food available and increase the price, while making healthy choices more affordable. A good option (because I doubt the supermarket will take this up) is to buy as much as you can from a greengrocer and butcher, reducing the families exposure to unhealthy junk food. Still, I often take her shopping and she rarely begs for rubbish. She enjoys picking out her fruit snacks for school and helping me to select the fresh produce I need.
