It's not the reward, it's the marketing concept that is questionable. I mean, did you never bug your mother to buy you some stupid cereal that you swore you would eat, just to get the prize? It's the same concept. Kids will bug their parents to go to McDonald's because they have the latest tie-in to some movie as the Happy Meal toy.

As a mother, of course I've let my kids have McDonald's on occasion. Unfortunately, I find that I'm the exception. My daughter was in her high school play, and rehearsals were from 5:30 to 7:30 four nights a week, and Saturdays from 9-1. I was shocked at how many of her friends' parents would just take the kids to the McDonald's that's near the school before EVERY rehearsal and for breakfast on Saturdays. It was gross. And I can't tell you how many friends she has that are obese. And I don't mean a little chubby, I mean over 200 pounds. And they're only teenagers. It's unbelievable.

A lot of the kids are dropped off at school for breakfast or buy their lunches. What do you think they buy? Half the time they're eating Dorito's and drinking soda, and that's for breakfast!! With so many single-parent households, or households with both parents working, I've found that it's fast food for a lot of families several nights a week.

I think that as a nation, we eat too much, we eat in our cars, and we eat as we run from one thing to another. We've instilled these unhealthy habits in our children, and the rising percentage of childhood obesity is to show for it.

If schools can limit what children consume during the day, then all the better. As I said before, I think it is a parent's responsibility, but I think that too many take it way too lightly.