It's surprising how much of the kids' (and Snoopy's) lives revolve around candy. Although we have more of it now, I think, kids today don't seem to fixate on it like the kids in the comic. And later on the kids mention it far less.
To again treat a Peanuts strip as if it is something that could happen in life, I would not think dogs would be fans of hard candy at all, let alone peppermint.
Kids don't fixate on candy as much these days because we have more of it now. Back In The Day, it was a rare and scarce treat, and thus you'd have kids doing things like forcing themselves to eat the nasty ones with coconut, because, even though they were nasty, they were still candy, and there were principles involved, you know?
ReplyDeleteIt's like cartoons, or, heck, science fiction on TV. When I was a kid, cartoons were relegated to Saturday morning and a couple of scanty hours on weekday afternoons. I'd get up at 6AM on Saturday, park myself in front of the TV, and not budge until around noon. I had to sit through crap like the Great Grape Ape, but I did, because it was a cartoon. The last cartoon of the morning was always Fat Albert, which I watched every week, every season, in the desperate hope that someday, they'd do something funny.
Nowadays, there are three entire networks dedicated to cartoons, and even more "On Demand". There are entire series, "classic collections", and full-length animated features on DVD.
I suspect that kids today consume more candy and watch more cartoons than they did in the '50s or the '70s -- but as a result, they don't get nearly as obsessed about them anymore.
Rather than conclude with the trite "kids today are so spoiled", I will instead repeat the possibly-apocryphal reports that cultures with more relaxed alcohol laws generate fewer alcoholics.
... just because I don't wanna be THAT GUY.
(... git offa my damned lawn ...)
As for dogs and hard candy ... oh, yeah, that's an entirely canine moment. Dogs aren't so much "omnivores" as "omnomnomnivores": I've seen more than a few scarf down something odd, like a peppermint or a chili pepper. blink, shake their heads, and give a "what the hell was that??" reaction -- and then immediately beg for more.
ReplyDeleteSee above notes on children and candy.
One other reason why candy seemed more "special" back in the day: it was harder to FIND. I suppose that supermarkets carried candy, but the REALLY good candy was more often found in specialty stores (candy stores). Such stores often sold ice cream and comic books as well.
ReplyDelete