Will Kraft's Salad "Frosting" Help Parents To Get Kids Eating More Veggies?

I have three kids, in more than one age and stage. This is not my first go-round, as they say. Things shock me less nowadays (a bit of swearing recently happened with my 7-year-old, for example). So while it takes a lot to impress me as a parent, one new invention is novel enough to investigate: Kraft's Salad "Frosting" wants to help parents get their kids to eat their veggies... and don't call it lying.

As HuffPo reported, the famed salad dressing company has launched a campaign to make salads and veggies more palatable for developing taste buds, and it involved two things: a lot of Ranch dressing, and a little subterfuge.

The new concept involves a frosting-like squeeze-tube of the creamy topping, as Southern Living magazine noted in service to the many southerners and open-minded northerners who might be interested in this development, which is being marketed as Salad "Frosting" (scare quotes are Kraft's, but also mine) for a limited time, with the aim of getting more greens into your little one's diet.

Where the white lying comes in is that Kraft knows it's stretching the truth with the whole "frosting" angle — and the company is asking people to write in with their biggest parenting whoppers.

You know, the ones you tell to survive, such as when a kid is crying for ice cream and you tell them the ice-cream store is closed. (Not that I've ever tried that one.) The "#LieLikeAParent" contest will pick 1,500 winners for free samples of the salad "Frosting."

Kraft is looking for originality, people, so probe your memory for your best parenting tall tales. I've got a LOT of dirt to dish regarding white mom lies, many involving the Tooth Fairy and the reasons she missed out on deliveries (it only happened a couple times, OK??!!), not to mention why she's given other kids $100 bills when my kids get $2 (what some of parenting peers are thinking with such large sums, I can't say).

"Innocent lies parents tell their kids help alleviate the pressures of everyday parenting, and if it gets kids to eat their greens, so be it,” says Sergio Eleuterio Head of Marketing for Kraft, in a company press release that absolves you of responsibility for any lies you peddle in the name of nutrition. “Simple innocent lies are not only part of parenthood, but a true tactic used by parents everywhere. Kraft Salad 'Frosting' is one lie you won’t feel bad telling your kids.”

Hmmm, this all sounds like rationalizing... and I'm good with that.

After all, it is important to get a child's eating habits off to a good start. Psychology Today reported in 2015 on the link between depression and a diet high in saturated fats and calories, while those in the study who consumed the nutrients naturally found in fruits and vegetables self-reported a better mood.

So while we know Twitter will light up with parents' awesome answers to their kids' demands for toys and treats, I think this salad frosting thing might have a real future. I hope this campaign creates enough noise that the product is available for more than just a summer — this warm weather is making me want to serve light stuff, like veggie kabobs from the barbecue, so I'm going to need all the help I can get in my house.