Slurpees at 9 a.m.?!

I just got back from London two days ago and a blog post about that would be far more interesting, right?  Well, this was just too urgent and I couldn't hold back!  So the London post will have to come later.  In the next couple of days...if I'm good =)

This morning, as I took a stroll to my local grocery store to buy supplies for lunch, I saw a most interesting scenario.  Most interesting because I had donned my public health goggles to see the situation.  Two young mothers were rushing through the streets with cigarettes in their mouths and slurpees in their hands and their childrens'.  This all happened at 9 a.m.  If children start their days with slurpees, you can only imagine what sort of food they will consume throughout the day.  Also, watching their mothers who are their primary caretakers and role models in life, these children are projected to mimic the behavior of their mothers in the future (without any intervention).  The first instinct of any observer would be to say, "How could these mothers do that?  Don't they know any better?"  Well, I was tempted to think that, but then I started to analyze the situation.
1.  I live in a blue collar neighborhood where you don't see BMWs and children herding to the library to study.  Who knows how much money the women have to provide nutritious meals for their children.  Slurpees=cheap sugar.
2. These kids looked like they were pre-K, which means parents need to have money to send their kids to pre-school.  Perhaps these mothers didn't have full-time jobs to pay for the education these kids would have received in more affluent areas.
3.  How much access do these mothers have to public health education that teach them about the harmful effects of cigarettes?
4. How much education did these mothers receive?  High school?  College education?  Studies have shown that people with higher education have better health behaviors and health outcomes.
I guess I can continue with this list and see the issues surrounding this simple scenario of two mothers smoking and feeding their kids slurpees at 9 in the morning.  Can we blame them completely for their behavior?  Are they just doing the best they can to provide for their children and keep them out of trouble?  How do we break the cycle of bad health behavior amongst generations and ensure that these children will be successful and healthy participants of society?  There are individual behavioral decisions at play here, but we must consider the health disparities and systemic issues that create a hostile environment for these women to make better health decisions.   I don't know how I'm going to ameliorate these issues happening in my own front yard, but I know that these problems exist.  What do you think we can do in the meantime?