Picture this: You are standing in the cereal aisle in your
local grocery store, faced with the usual 100+ choices. Your kids swirl around
you, excitedly telling you they want this one or that one. Do you get the
Kellogg’s cornflakes or the generic? The General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios or
the generic O’s version?
How do you decide? Not to mention, how do you ever get out
of the store in one piece with so many choices in one food category, let alone
the entire store? And how do you begin to teach your kids all that goes into
your decision: price, taste, size, packaging, environmental considerations,
moral scruples about corporate practices, which coupons you have, and so on?
How can we help our kids understand that generics might prove to be a better
alternative than the name brands seen in all the insistent TV commercials?
Why not put some products to the test? Give your kids a
chance to decide whether big-name brands are really worth it.
When To
Do:
After school or on the weekend
What to
Do:
A fun thing you can do with your kids is to have them
compare generics and non-generics on a number of categories.
1. The next
time you are in the grocery store, pick up both generic and name brand versions
of some of your kid’s favorite cereals or other foods. Keep the store receipts
for use in comparing prices. (Tip: If your store provides cost-per-ounce info
on the shelf price label, jot this down on a pad or on the package.)
2. Prepare
a small worksheet for you and your kids to fill out for each product.
Product
1 Product
2
* Price
* Taste
* Ingredients
* Packaging
* Advertising
* Coupons
* Other
* Taste
* Ingredients
* Packaging
* Advertising
* Coupons
* Other
3. Select
one food category for the first round of comparison.
4. Set both
the generic and name-brand items on the table, with proper utensils and bowls
or plates, for your kids to examine, read, open, taste, and so on.
5. Have
your kids review each product and record their findings on the assessment
worksheet. You may have to help them fill it in or prompt them for ways to
think about comparing taste, the box copy, nutritional information, and so on.
6. Once the
worksheet is complete for the first two items, discuss what your kids uncovered
in the comparison.
7. Finally,
have your kids vote on whether the generic version is better than the name
brand, based on your family’s criteria.
8. You can
rerun the exercise any time to compare other products.
Bonus:
Do a blind taste test and see whether your kids can tell
which is the generic and which is the name brand.
What you
will need
Food items for comparison; store receipts
Pad of paper
Pencils or pens
Calculator (optional)
Talk
About It
After completing a round of comparison, ask your kids what
they thought of the exercise. Did they learn anything new? If so, what? Would
they like to compare other products? What would they like to compare?
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