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In our area, the ice cream truck might come through once or twice a summer. I wouldn't think it's really that big a deal to let a kid have a treat once or twice during those months. No idea what the costs are now, though.
I don't have any kids, but if I did I would teach them to never buy ice cream from a truck. It's a cute idea, but the noise is a nuisance, as well as the pollution that is generated from driving frozen sugar and milk around just to earn a few dollars.
Our ice cream guy must be crazy. He comes by when the weather is cold or during the winter. I never see anyone buying his ice cream. Plus, I live a block from the 7-11, where you can get ice cream any time at all. Not to mention all of the gourmet ice cream and yougurt shops near by.
It makes sense to drive an ice cream truck to a park where there are lots of customers, but I am really opposed to trolling neighborhoods while blaring the super-annoying ice cream song. There's even a line in our municipal code prohibiting the use of amplified sound to attract customers, yet nothing is ever done. It's like ice cream trucks get an automatic exception because people don't want their neighbors to think that they're some kind of kid-hating ogre even though they just want some peace and quiet.
It is so nice to hear about everyone else's memories of the ice cream truck...I see them every once in a while and it is amazing how it just brings you back to being a kid again. I hope they never go away!
Charles22 - Why destroy a wonderful thread? I am guessing they didn't have ice cream trucks where you grew up otherwise you would appreciate them too.
One thing I love about my neighborhood is that it has an ice cream truck with that plays the chime-y song, and all the neighborhood kids run out and get treats, like it's 1955. The prices are modern day, of course, but it's still not horrendous...bomb pop or orange push-up for a buck, couple of bucks for a larger treat. Convenience store snacks are more costly, and less fun to purchase.
We also have frou frou gourmet ice cream shoppes and chain fro yo places, but for the kids on my street, the ice cream truck is where it's at, and by far more cost-effective. I love it. I would way rather see the kids in my neighborhood out playing in their yards and running to buy a popsicle with their allowance than have them be shut in with their game systems. I appreciate the sense of community.
Sorry, but when you have four kids...and the ice cream truck around here has bars that start at $2.50, that is ten dollars...right there....and I just bought a package of ice cream bars, same thing basically, at Costco, for less than $8.00, with ten bars in the package.
So, am I cheap? Frugal? Or just living our personal reality...that ice cream is a treat...because it is not needed...and therefore, you are lucky to even get that box of ice cream bars from Costco...Sorry, but the ice cream truck is off of our radar...
Besides, I just don't like ice cream trucks any longer, since I found out that they don't consider them employees, they are independent contractors, and there is no background check done on ice cream truck drivers...one around here was a convicted child molester. All he needed was cash to rent a truck...
Last edited by jasper12; 08-22-2011 at 09:21 PM..
Reason: edit.
My next door neighbor tried this idea with television. They didn't allow their kids to watch tv, on the theory that the kids would grow up with an appreciation for the fine arts activities that the parents provided as an alternative to tv. In reality, the kids grew up to became tv addicts, and resent the fine arts (I think they saw them as some sort of punishment, whereas tv became the desirable taboo). They also grew up having problems making friends in adult life, and I really think it's because they didn't do the same things as the other neighborhood kids when they were young and learning how to make friends.
This reminds me of a childhood friend, whose mother was REALLY uptight about eating healthy - she even had her own diet food business for some years, so it was a very big deal to her. And guess what my friend would do? She'd come over to my house after school, and immediately gorge herself on sweets from the snack cabinet (my mom had/has a sweet tooth, so it was well-stocked... LOL). She ended up having a weight problem, and also hated anything related to health food, exercise & dieting. She eventually got things under control and found a good balance, but her mother's controlling behavior had totally backfired.
So yeah, I say let the kids get ice cream from the truck, at least every once in a while! I grew up in a heavily Hispanic town, so for us it was the "Helado Man" with his little push-cart... he'd roll it up and down the street, ringing a bell and yelling "Helaaaaaaado" as the kids came running. Now whenever I see those guys today, it brings back fond childhood memories of San Mateo (CA). Gotta let them have some fun, and build those memories in the meantime - even if it means spending a few extra bucks here & there. JMO, of course.
Never! I have never let my kids have street vendor food...ugh...the thought makes me shudder. They can starve before I would buy them a hot dog from a stand. Of course, what they choose to do with their own money is fine....
I drove an ice cream truck one summer, and I loved it. It was a hot and sticky job, but it was great. I'd pull into the ball fields where the kids were all hot and sweaty from playing their games, and I'd get mobbed - Gatorade is great, but nothing feels as good as a brain freeze when it's hot outside!
The kids that came to the truck were from all areas; rich and poor. I went through all neighborhoods. Some had $20 bills their moms had given them, some were scraping together pennies so that they could share 'the biggest thing you've got in there'. (And yes I sometimes came up with a few nickels when someone was short!)
It's like anything else. Sure it's an impulse buy, sure there's a markup getting it at your door instead of going to the store and buying in bulk, sure it's probably bad for you, especially if you do it every day or buy a handful of sweet treats and try to eat it all at once. But like the box of popcorn or the big package of Reese's at the movie house, how often do you get a little reward or a little fillip of joy from something so simple?
I'd do it again if I didn't have to drive down 150 miles of steep gravel roads from ranch to ranch, and try to keep a big truck running on fuel prices now, while having to drive 40 miles one way to the nearest store to refill the freezers!
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