There’s a photo on page A3 of this morning’s Freeman of several students from Meagher Elementary School in Kingston sitting in a limousine, waiting to be taken on a victory ride for being the top sellers in a recent PTA fundraiser.

Unfortunately, the ride was to Burger King for a celebratory lunch.

This is how we reward our children for a job well done? By giving them greasy, fattening, completely unhealthy fast food?

We hear so much these days about kids’ poor eating habits, about the skyrocketing obesity rate among our nation’s young people and about how schools should do more to promote nutrition. And then we congratulate the winners of a school contest by letting them load up on Whoppers, French fries and sugared sodas. Lovely!

Send a mixed message to children, and the best you can hope for is a mixed result.