While I can certainly sympathize that the ice cream men and their trucks can be annoying, unwanted and even creepy at times, all of this ice-cream scream seems like a bad dream.
Parents have power, and they can wield it however they want. They can write letters and try to ban ice cream trucks (certainly worth doing if there is a creepy or criminal element, as mentioned in the Chicago case).
But parents also have power over their kids. It may be difficult telling them they can't have ice cream every day, and parents, including me, have real struggles doing so. Still, this should be a good teaching moment. As the Rolling Stones sing, "You can't always get what you want."
Or just listen to the sage words of Mr. Softee himself, Hilary Guishard of Brooklyn, as reported in the New York Times.
“But moms have a choice,” he said. “We should be mature enough to tell our kids, ‘No.’ "
Wanting the trucks to go away “is not a valid issue,” he said, adding, “It’s like a mother being angry at a store being at a particular corner.” Besides, the ice cream man isn’t forever.
“It’s summer,” he said, sighing. “It’s only four months.”
Moms can choose where we take our kids but having someone drive by your home with kiddie music and corn syrup pops is obnoxious. We have to deal with this 3 times or more a week during summer. My kids are too young to understand all my rational reasons and the ice cream man knows it. At $5 a stop it is most definitely war.
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