Hellobee Boards

I loved those trucks!

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.

It's a manufactured story. All in all, pretty disappointed in the papers/blogs for how this was handled!

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. =\

Oh please. They need to learn how to tell their kid no.

@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.

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:

http://antiguadailyphoto.com/2007/01/21/ice-cream-handart%E2%80%94guatemalan-traditional-style/

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).

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.

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.

@MsMamaBear: exactly my thoughts!

@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.

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.

I think vendors need a code of conduct, and that not selling drugs and not handing cones to kids should be on it.

@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

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.

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!!