Don’t Eat Popcorn at the Cinema
|It appears that I like to incur the wrath of many people when it comes to some parenting decisions (I will be writing about my views on gaming soon). Unfortunately, I am likely to annoy you and about 99.9% of the rest of the population today too.
Basically: We never have popcorn at the cinema and neither should you.
Ah yes, I thought that would upset you. Ok. Let me just say – of course it is YOUR CHOICE what you do at the cinema – what you watch, what you eat and what you drink. No one likes to be told what to do. Of course not. But please bear with me and read WHY I think you should maybe think twice about eating popcorn and chocolate at the cinema. Especially with your kids.
I have three points to go with it, that are all connected.. and it mainly comes back to our 1st World Problems of “being spoilt” and obesity.
But here in detail.
The Cinema is the Treat
Firstly. I think that going to the cinema or the theatre IS the treat. Why do you need a treat and ANOTHER treat? Going out with a family can be expensive and if you are watching a new release, it will quickly add up. So, I try and teach my kids that the trip IS the treat. Not what we eat or what toys they want to have (it applies to museum and theme park visits too – we don’t go to the museum to shop afterwards.. the day out IS THE TREAT). There are lots of parenting articles floating around about how today’s child is spoilt – they get everything, they do everything, they have everthing.
They get everything ALL the time.
When I was young, we maybe went to the cinema once a year.. not 3-4 times a year. The one trip to the cinema was the special occasion and the cinema itself was the treat. These days, kids (and MY KIDS included), go much much more than I ever did. When you go once a year, there is a sense of a occasion. That real sense of occasion is now often lost and a cinema visit becomes part of the norm. I think it is important for kids to understand that it is still a treat and that you don’t need more to make it special.
Conscious Eating
Another issue that our 1st World Society faces is obesity. What? I hear you shout in dismay, “A bit of popcorn isn’t going to make my child fat! Don’t be ridiculous! Have you seen my child? (S)he is rake thin and spends so much time outdoors. A little popcorn won’t do any harm.”
Well yes, you are quite right, a little popcorn won’t do us much harm. However (and this is closely tied to my next point), eating whilst watching TV or at the cinema is an unconscious event. We just stuff ourselves, because the food is there. We tend to eat much much more than we think we do, simply because we are not paying attention. And we are not savouring what we are eating.
Afterall, we are watching a film, which we are engrossed in. So why eat? Eating should be a “conscious” activity. A social activity, where family or friends get together and chat.
So I would suggest.. if you REALLY feel you need that treat as part of your cinema going experience – go to the ice cream parlor AFTERWARDS, sit down, spend time together and talk about the movie.
And have you noticed how cinema popcorn comes in biggest, hugest tubs? Probably 5x or more the amount your would consciously eat at home? Yes. That. It is wrong.
I have many a friend that worries about their weight.. and yet we go to the cinema and they eat tons of food – regardless of whether it is 11am (kids cinema), 6pm or 9pm showing. They are eating out of habit….. just stop. Don’t do it. I promise you will still enjoy the movie. If you can’t NOT consume something, I challenge you to take along a bottle of water!
…Habit Forming & Pavlovian Responses
To me, eating popcorn at the cinema is a Pavlovian response.. a little bell rings in our heads and we have to eat. Regardless of whether we actually feel like it or not! Don’t eat out of habit. Eat because you are hungry. And ONLY eat because you are hungry (re the ice cream palor above, have a coffee if you are not hungry, but don’t eat because you can).
I feel when it comes to my kids, I want to teach them GOOD habits – e.g. we only drink water at the dinner table. On special occasions there are juices. It means that my kids now actually only WANT WATER (yes they really do, and some times even choose water over a juice at the restaurant). Same goes for treats at the cinema. Why get them into bad eating habits? Why teach them to eat when they are not hungry? Why teach them to eat passively and not sociably?
I want my children to grow up to be healthy individuals. I do believe in cake and popcorn and crisps. And of course my kids get all these yummy snacks. But I also believe in, being aware of what you eat. Not eating things unnecessarily or “Just because they are there” or “need to be finished”. We are lucky that we live in the 1st World and for most of us “too much food” is the problem.
Let us appreciate the food we have and have a good healthy relationship with it! Let’s not eat out of habit.
I actually love your article and not only do I agree on every single point and reason, we parent in the same way. Thank you for putting this out there 🙂
Oh thank you! I am getting a “beasting” over this on social media… So am pleased to have some kindred spirits. I know it is (oddly) an emotive topic, but I do feel strongly about it too and really wanted to write this and bring another view across!
You do realize that concessions pay for the employees that work at the theater right? If you do not buy something once in a while, you won’t have a treat to go see.
Agreed. I am sure they will find other ways of making money.. after all my kids buy (or want to buy) all the merchandising that goes with movies. I would also be prepared to pay more for my ticket it if means “keeping it all going”.
You only let the kids drink water at the dinner table? So, like, what do they drink if they happen to get thirsty between meals? Are they not allowed to drink water at any other time other than at meals? We don’t drink juice. The kids have free range of the water dispenser on the refrigerator all day. How is it unhealthy to drink water whenever one is thirsty?
Hahaha of course they can drink water all day long. The grammar police needs to come out and check my writing!
I love your article. You make some very great points
thank you
And likely when you were a child they didn’t release as many family movies as they do now (would be my guess) so it’s a possibility that some people went less, because there weren’t as many options as there are now which might contribute to more visits today as opposed to whenever you happened to be young. I’m probably more happy at the thought of families actually present in each other’s lives and doing things together as it sometimes seems as old fashioned or out of style as the word cinema.
I wholeheartedly agree with what you have written but I probably buy the popcorn, chocolate and fizzy drinks as part of the “treat” package. However, as we are going to the cinema this afternoon (probably our second visit already this year), I may now look differently at the added extras!
I do think the occasional treat is great! It is more about the continuous “passive eating” that we do as a modern day society!
Thank you for this food for thought. I get the idea. Like iT.
My pleasure
I feel that popcorn and a soda is part of the movie experience. Your point on unconscious eating is valid, however wouldn’t it be better to teach your children to rather select a suitable portion size rather than removing the popcorn completely? We have 4 sizes to choose from, the smallest one being only slightly more than the amount we would eat at home. So we choose that. As for the drinks we choose water instead of soda, however on occasiony daughter might choose a shlushy as this is the only time I would allow it. Eating popcorn at the movies need not be an “unconscious eating” problem when you make the concious decision to stick to a reasonable snack portion size. There is great value in teaching restraint and responsibility.
Ps.. opening this post with lines to deliberately upset people and evoke an emotional response has the same effect on the psyche as unconscious eating. You got adrenaline flowing ON PURPOSE to hook your reader and to elicit responses. So if you want to preach about the psychological effect of how unconscious eating is bad then maybe look into the way you open your posts as it is one in the same.