https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Apr 2026 07:34:56 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-121165 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:15:48 +0000 mediagirl 121165@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow. At first, all I could think is just tell your kids no and take them home if they're having a fit. Now I read what @mrbee wrote and just wow. Who do these vendors think they are?? Hello, has no one ever heard of "don't take candy from a stranger?" SAME THING!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-121054 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:36:35 +0000 mrbee 121054@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Here is some much better reporting on what happened in the New York Times:</p> <p>~~~</p> <p>For the record, what Ms. Scanlan actually posted on Park Slope Parents – in response to a commenter who had written that the vendor was just trying to make a living — was this: </p> <p>" ... I too was at the Ninth Street playground on Monday, and one of the vendors just handed my 4-year-old an ice cream cone. I was furious. My daughter is allergic to peanuts, and while I know there are no peanuts in the ice creams they sell, the vendor had NO idea whether she might have had an allergy to dairy. My girls know that some days (Fridays) are days that I’ll say yes to ice cream, and generally they’re well-behaved, but as soon as they see the ice cream their reason goes out the window."</p> <p>Also for the record, while there are places in some city parks, including Prospect Park, where food can be sold, vendors are not allowed to peddle their wares inside playgrounds. The age-old conflict between the demand-supply curve and parents’ attempts to press for enforcement of local regulations flares up periodically and was explored in some depth in this newspaper several years ago.</p> <p>So there you have it. An illegal form of commerce. A stranger handing sweets to a child with food allergies. An upset parent.</p> <p><a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/summer-treat-or-bedeviling-temptation/" rel="nofollow">http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/summer-treat-or-bedeviling-temptation/</a></p> <p>~~~</p> <p>It's amazing how the commenters on the post are vilifying the mom. Ice cream vendors should not be handing ice cream to 4-year-olds!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113914 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:42:48 +0000 Andrea 113914@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ah ok, if the real story is that vendors are in your face and handing kids ice cream cones that that is definitely inappropriate and it needs to be banned. There is also another issue about growing obesity rates amongst young children. I want to teach my LO to make healthy choices and that does not include getting ice cream every day at the park. And I don't want someone shoving ice cream into my LO's hands. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113893 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:06:30 +0000 mrbee 113893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsMamaBear: Well in all fairness, the NY Post titled their article, "Park Slope parents back ban on ice-cream trucks in Prospect Park to avoid screaming kids". It was purposefully confusing, I think. Or whomever wrote the headline doesn't know what a push cart is.</p> <p>They used the phrase "ice cream/Italian ice push carts" in a quote which clarified it, but most people went off the headline and the Post (and Jezebel) hit their pageview targets for the day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113891 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:04:38 +0000 MsMamaBear 113891@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: Yikes...carts? That's scary. I guess because I live in the suburbs, I was thinking of a truck with music and the kids go to it.LOL </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113889 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:04:24 +0000 banana 113889@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh wow, They actually hand kids an ice cream cone? Oh I would be very upset about that. It's one thing to have an ice cream cart or truck roll by. But it's definitely not ok to be handing kids an ice cream cone in my book. I could see why the parents are upset about that part. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113885 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:00:19 +0000 mrbee 113885@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjazz: Yah, it's the handing of cones to 4-year-olds plus the selling of marijuana in the parks that makes this a less than ideal situation.</p> <p>In any case, I watch Charlie at all times when we are out, and would stop any ice cream seller right away. That said, people talk about saying "no" like it's just a matter of strong parental will. Charlie has recently completely changed and has become a monster to handle at times. If someone tried to slip him a cone and triggered a tantrum, I would say no to Charlie and live with it. But if it happened repeatedly, I would be super upset at the vendor.</p> <p>I think vendors need a code of conduct, and that not selling drugs and not handing cones to kids should be on it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113879 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:49:08 +0000 mrsjazz 113879@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: I definitely don't think they should be handing ice cream to the kids! That's a definite no no. That is something no parent should stand for! </p> <p>Well, Jezebel did pull this from the NYPost and they are not the most reputable of newspapers. At first I thought there was an actual City Council ban these parents were trying to start. </p> <p>But other than that I'm okay with them being around--but that's probably because I grew up with them. We always had both the handcarts and ice cream trucks in my neighborhood, both in the parks and near our homes. Of course, no vendors ever handed us ice cream/ices--but we just had to take no for an answer and deal with it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113876 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:43:18 +0000 cyndistar3 113876@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsMamaBear: exactly my thoughts! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113874 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:42:39 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 113874@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I love ice cream trucks. One recently started coming through outr neighborhood. I'm sorry to hear the story was reported poorly. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113868 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:38:59 +0000 mrbee 113868@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjazz: Bee is a member of the listserve and it's been great for her. All those secondhand items that Bee buys and sells and then blogs about are from the mailing list. I'm sure there are people who are a bit off on the mailing list, but overall it's a group of smart and helpful people. We just bought a ping pong table off the list this week, and the seller seemed normal to me.</p> <p>I should also add that we live near Prospect Park, and see the ice cream trucks that are mentioned in the article on a regular basis. They are not the ice cream trucks that most people are probably thinking of: the big white vans with the ice cream music that sell licensed products and pullup in parking lots. They are hand carts:</p> <p><a href="http://antiguadailyphoto.com/2007/01/21/ice-cream-handart%E2%80%94guatemalan-traditional-style/" rel="nofollow">http://antiguadailyphoto.com/2007/01/21/ice-cream-handart%E2%80%94guatemalan-traditional-style/</a></p> <p>I love old school style hand carts and we actually bought a great Italian ice from one last summer for Charlie. But the current controversy is really over whether or not the handcarts should be allowed to roll off of the streets and onto the playground itself and hand ice cream cones to kids. That seems pretty different to me than parking outside of an outdoor pool and playing some music, at which point kids can beg their parents for ice cream (with varying degrees of success).</p> <p>There's a further issue muddying the waters: hand carts in Prospect park are known for sometimes pretending to sell ice cream, but actually selling drugs (usually lighter stuff like marijuana). In any case, this has heightened fears over the hand carts going onto playgrounds and approaching kids.</p> <p>It's interesting to see how a story that you're familiar with gets reported in the local papers. Sometimes the results are impressive, and other times they are unrecognizable. I would place this story in the latter category. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113864 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:36:08 +0000 yoursilverlining 113864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsMamaBear: THIS. </p> <p>If you can’t handle telling your kids no and dealing with the resulting tantrum, too bad. It’s not societies’ responsibility to coddle everyone else’s kids and make sure their spescual snowflakes are never upset or disappointed. A firm “no” worked well in our house growing up! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113851 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:13:52 +0000 MsMamaBear 113851@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh please. They need to learn how to tell their kid no. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113848 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:12:30 +0000 mrsjazz 113848@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: I'd be curious to read the whole thread. I read another thread from that listserv (also from Jezebel) about a woman who found a "boy's hat" that erupted into this long thread about gender dynamics that was pretty laughable...and made me think some of the parents on that listserv are a bit mad. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113844 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:09:03 +0000 banana 113844@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This article cracks me up. If we wanted ice cream from the ice cream truck, my parents would just "NO!" and that was that. No amount of whining and complaining would get them to change their mind. Eventually, we had to settle for fruit yogurt at home. =\ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113842 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:06:26 +0000 Mrsbells 113842@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I couldnt read the whole article because I didnt understand the need for the repeated use of the F word.<br /> I hate ice cream trucks and I really would like to avoid buying icecream from a truck for my kids though, unless its something that comes in an individual packet. But I wouldnt go as far as banning the trucks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113840 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:01:41 +0000 mrbee 113840@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Those articles are based on horrible journalism. The quotes were pulled from a local listserve in Park Slope called Park Slope Parents... but they were quoted inaccurately. Also, it's a private listserve but they not only published the quote but they published the names of the person being quoted.</p> <p>It's a manufactured story. All in all, pretty disappointed in the papers/blogs for how this was handled! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113825 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:44:33 +0000 chopsuey 113825@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We never got ice cream from those trucks! :( A guy comes around our neighborhood and it seriously bugs because he's always coming around during nap time!<br /> I'd totally buy ice cream for my LO from the truck though.. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113823 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:42:40 +0000 tequiero21 113823@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I loved those trucks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/some-parents-want-to-ban-the-ice-cream-truck#post-113820 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:39:54 +0000 mrsjazz 113820@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Just read this article on Jezebel and it's in the NY Post, too.</p> <p>Basically, some parents want to ban ice cream vendors in the park (Prospect Park, in Brooklyn) because it leads to a battle between the screaming toddlers/kids who want ice cream and the parents who say NO!</p> <p>I grew up with the ice cream truck coming around every single day during warm days and we only got it as a special treat. I'm pretty sure my mom didn't blame the ice cream truck guy for when we were annoyed we couldn't have any.</p> <p><a href="http://jezebel.com/5898248/brooklyn-parents-finally-prove-they-are-the-absolute-worst" rel="nofollow">http://jezebel.com/5898248/brooklyn-parents-finally-prove-they-are-the-absolute-worst</a> </p>