Healthy food is key to a healthy body, but nowadays youth are more likely to relish junk food. Be it crunchy snacks easily available in the market or a delicious treat at a café, youngsters enjoy junk food more than the healthy homemade food. How do the parents fight this dilemma? I spoke to Manzoor Ahmed, a businessman, and his wife Masarat, a government employee, who have a teenage son and daughter.

Mom: My kids find home cooked food boring. It annoys me a lot when they return in the evening from school or tuition and tell me that they don’t want to have dinner because they ate outside. I can’t beat them. I yell, I shout, I scream but who cares. They tell me that I am overreacting. They say “Our friends also eat outside it is normal”. They don’t understand my concern, they think that I do it because I care for the food that I had cooked. Yes that is true I don’t want to waste food but my actual concern is their health. They don’t know how hazardous it is to have junk food. Just because it tastes better doesn’t mean it is healthy. You don’t know what they put in food, how they cook it, how hygienic is the cooking place. You know nothing. When they come to me with different health problems like acne and hairfall I tell them that it’s because they eat junk food but they know how to blame creams, shampoos and stress of studies. We never had those health problems when we were growing up because we used to eat homemade, fresh and healthy, food. I still have long and strong tresses, my daughter is just 18 and she is suffering from hairfall problem.

Pop:Well, I don’t see any problem if my children eat outside. I did the same when I was young. No doubt, in those days we didn’t have enough choice. There wasn’t a café or restaurant culture but you had certain places where you would go, hang around with friends and eat. I believe this is the age when you can eat randomly. Then eventually time comes when your doctor tells you that you are not allowed to have this and that kind of food. I want my children to enjoy the freedom to eat whatever they like. I don’t want them to regret that they couldn’t have the food of their choice when they were young. I don’t want to restrict them. I do get pizzas, burgers and shwarmas for them. When we go on family holidays I make sure that they have the food they want to have. Do you think if you will tell them to not have junk food, they will oblige. No way. They may tell you ‘Okay we won’t have it’, but there is a café and food studio at every nook and corner. When they are out they can have it anywhere.