“I don’t think it’s fair when big companies try to trick kids into eating food. It isn’t fair that so many kids my age are getting sick.”

That was the zinger by Hannah Robertson directed to McDonald’s CEO who countered “We don’t sell junk food.”

Plenty of backlash centered on Hannah’s mother, a nutrition activist, for this brazen publicity stunt. One comment on NPR’s The Salt blog reads “You cannot tell me that a 9-year-old wanted to attend a McDonald's shareholders meeting on a Thursday morning on her own accord.”

Actually I know a lot of children who wish their moms would give them a similar opportunity as Kia Robertson did. Most of us don’t have enough advance notice about the chance to speak at a Board of Health meeting or legislative hearing. We assume correctly that public policy arenas are welcoming to school field trips rather than young advocates.

Hannah should not be an anomaly when it comes to participating in today’s movement over healthy foods. Kids are the ones targeted by the blizzard of ads, not to mention McCare Nights and scholarships to gain brand loyalty. Children’s views about numerous policy proposals from prohibiting product placement ads at schools to a tax on sugar-laden beverages should be encouraged; adults don’t have a monopoly on critical thinking.

My perspective comes from two decades of work on youth-led advocacy and multigenerational collaboration but equally important as a mom.

While driving Morgan, my 9-year-old, along with his younger brother, to soccer practice years ago, we heard on the radio about a County Council hearing to ban cigarette vending machines. Morgan had grown up with U.S. Surgeon General Everett Koop’s Tobacco-Free Class of 2000 and hatched the idea of a sting operation to prove the “You Must Be 18 Years” signs on the machines were meaningless.

Barely four feet tall, Morgan testified how no one stopped them when buying cigarettes at a bowling alley, restaurant and supermarket while his younger brother held up a poster showing the Marlboros they purchased. Upon passage of the ordinance, the Council Chair beamed: “These two guys slam-dunked all the powerful lobbyists that were fighting the legislation.” Just like Hannah’s mom, I was accused of “putting my kids up to this” but for the next 10 years, both my sons proved this cause was their passion as they advocated against Big Tobacco from the Maryland  Statehouse to the White House.

Let’s invite more of our children to deconstruct the industry’s marketing and philanthropy ploys and encourage them to weigh in.