If I had a dollar for every time Laura quoted a commercial to me Dave could stop looking for work and be a stay at home Dad. However, it's all commercials, not just the ones aimed at kids. When she was 5 she asked for a Sham-Wow for her birthday.

That said, I think there's a lot of parental responsibility here, as well. When the commercial thing started popping up, I used it as teachable moments. Casey, my apprentice, actually has Sham-Wows and he (or maybe it was Sue, his wife) got to show Laura how they weren't even close to being as exciting as advertised.

Now, I'd say that she has a firm grasp of what is real and what is not real when it comes to commercials.

I like the toys in Happy Meals. While we don't allow her to eat there often, when we do allow it, the toy gives the trip an air of being a special treat that we allow ourselves to occasionally have. I'm hoping that by not preventing her from eating there entirely we skip over the idea that it's a forbidden fruit that she allow herself to heavily indulge in when she gets older and has more control over her life. I know I spent years of my young adulthood eating nothing but fast food and sugar cereal because we weren't allowed to have it as children.