“Mommy.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know macaroni and cheese just got cheesier?”

“Oh, it did?”

“Yeah, I heard it on the commercial.”

This news was important for two reasons: First, I thought the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese box already says, “The Cheesiest.” Why they feel compelled to out-cheese themselves, I have no idea. Second, I knew my daughter had officially succumbed to the advertising monster.

I recently watched The Invention of Lying. In real life, a lot of people are paid a lot of money to create advertisements that distract from the truth. In the movie, everyone tells the truth all the time, so companies use slogans like: “Pepsi: When They Don’t Have Coke.”

So in that imaginary world, Kraft would promote its macaroni and cheese by saying, “Not as cheesy as if your mom made it from scratch, but we all know she’s not going to.”

Kids are impressionable when it comes to advertising, but fortunately, they are more easily influenced by us. And they are adaptable and move on quickly. I had barely begun my speech on why not everything said on TV is true, when she had another question.

“Mommy.”

“Yes?”

“Is lava real?”

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