Dr. Carolyn Lee reflects on a different cliché each week. Recently, in her blog “It Goes Without Saying,” she praises an interaction at a particular fast food chain. This week Carolyn explores the cliché, like a kid in a candy shop.
Learn more about Dr. Carolyn Lee on her biography page or investigate 29 more clichés in her latest book, Keep Your Eye on the Ball And Other Clichès to Live By.
Like a Kid in a Candy Shop
When I was a little girl, we had maybe four boxes of cereal in our pantry. There was always Kellogg’s Cornflakes. Then probably bran flakes, Rice Krispies, and Cheerios. From 1941 until 1976, the original “Cheerios” were “pulverized oats in the shape of a solid torus.” (“Solid torus,” by the way, is a mathematic term describing a topological space.) “Real-world objects that approximate a solid torus include o-rings, non-inflatable lifebuoys, ring-doughnuts and bagels.” Anyway . . . thirty-five years after Cheerios were introduced, General Mills announced the first departure from the original flavor. Cinnamon Nut Cheerios went on the market in 1976. In 1979 we got our first taste of Honey Nut Cheerios, and then, gradually, from 1988 to 1995, three more flavors were introduced: Apple Cinnamon, Multi-Grain, and Frosted.
Now, here’s where things get interesting, and, I think, a little weird. Between 2005 and 2023, General Mills has put on the shelves of our grocery stores, twenty-five more flavors of their original, simple little solid toruses. Here they are, in chronological order:
- Yogurt Burst
- Fruity
- Oat Cluster Crunch
- Banana Nut
- Chocolate
- Cinnamon Burst
- Multi-Grain Peanut Butter
- Multi-Grain Dark Chocolate
- Protein (Variations include Oats & Honey and Cinnamon Almond)
- Ancient Grain
- Pumpkin Spice
- Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Strawberry
- Very Berry
- Peach
- Blueberry
- Maple
- Cinnamon
- Toasted Coconut
- Frosted Vanilla
- Chocolate Strawberry
- Banana Caramel
- Honey Vanilla
- Strawberry Banana
- Frosted Lemon
Does it not strike you as strange that someone thinks we need that many different kinds of Cheerios from which to choose? Of course, the above list does not even take into account the hundreds of other cereal types and shapes and flavors that fill up the rest of an entire aisle of the supermarket. Something for the kids? How about Cotton Candy Cereal or Count Chocula or Green Slime or Peeps Marshmallow Flavored Cereal?
For serious adults and especially senior citizens? There’s Cascadian Farm Organic Hearty Morning Fiber Cereal or Food for Life Ezekial 4:9 Organic Sprouted Grain Cereal. A relatively new product takes high-fiber cereal up several notches. It’s called “Poop Like a Champion.”
In 2004, an American psychologist, Barry Schwartz, published a book called The Paradox of Choice—Why More Is Less. The book argues that the dramatic explosion in choice has, paradoxically, become a problem instead of a solution. Decision-making has become increasingly complex, due to the overwhelming number of choices with which we are presented. And, if we are forced to select from dozens of items, Schwartz says we’re less likely to be satisfied with our choice. It is easy to remember—or imagine—the attractive features of the alternatives we rejected and second guess the decision we’ve made. He points to jeans as an example and lists all the options—“stone-washed, straight-leg, boot-fit, distressed, slightly distressed, very distressed, zip fly, button fly, knee-holed, knee and thigh-holed, pretty much all holes and negligible denim.” The buyer feels entitled to expect that there is a perfect pair of jeans for him. Inevitably, though, when he leaves the store, he is likely to be less satisfied than when there were hardly any options.”
When I scroll through all 3,600 movies and 1,800 television shows offered on Netflix only to learn that the movie I wish to see can only be viewed on Paramount+ or Peacock or Hulu or one of the dozens of other streaming services available to me, the chances are that I’ll feel overwhelmed, say “the heck with it,” and read a book.
Choosing jeans or movies or cereal can be frustrating and result in “decision fatigue,” but being confronted with hundreds of options when making more significant decisions can adversely affect our mental health and physical well-being. What about choosing the best bundle for cable TV, internet and phone? Or a healthcare provider? What about choosing a college or a profession? “You can be anything you want to be” sounds like an altogether positive pronouncement, a motto that belongs on a poster in a dorm room. But, setting aside the fact that it isn’t true, it presents an impossible array of choices. Must we choose among all the options—from pop star to welder, from astronaut to Uber driver? The choice of professions is almost endless. How can you make your choice and then be content, when there are so many other options, each of which has attractive features you’ll be missing out on?
I don’t have a solution to the decision-dilemma. I still go a little crazy when I sit down at a restaurant and pick up a menu that’s nine pages long. I have learned, though, to limit my options, whether it be items on a menu or places to go on vacation, to narrow down the number of choices, and then to assume, once I have made a decision, that I have made the right one. No second-guessing.
Kids in candy shops are in environments so full of exciting possibilities that they can hardly behave themselves. I would behave myself in a candy shop. I would head straight for the black licorice and the coconut clusters. Never mind the saltwater taffy or the gummy bears or the chocolate covered malt balls. In my pantry, there are two boxes of cereal: Total and Shredded Wheat. It takes me about fifteen seconds to decide between them. Of course, there are other breakfast possibilities: French toast, buttermilk pancakes, scrambled (or fried or poached or soft-boiled) eggs, fruit and yogurt, Belgian waffles, avocado toast, English muffins, cinnamon rolls, blueberry scones, sour cream coffee cake, biscuits and gravy . . .
Want to Read More?
Check out Dr. Carolyn Lee’s blogs on her website, she features a new cliché each week or you can order her new book, Keep Your Eye on the Ball And Other Clichès to Live By. Want to know more about the woman behind the words? Read more about Carolyn here. We hope you enjoyed this article learning more about the cliché, like a kid in a candy shop.
