My parents owned a soul food diner. It inspired me to go to culinary school.

I travel around and hear from so many kids. Their parents say they were always very picky but they watch the show and they want to try stuff. The show is entertainment but I think it has done so much for the public perception of what food can be.

Heads know that failing to invest in good nutritious food is a false economy and parents won't tolerate reconstituted turkey being put back on the menu.

I wanted to be a great white hunter a prospector for gold or a slave trader. But then when I was eight my parents sent me to a boarding school in South Africa. It was the equivalent of a British public school with cold showers beatings and rotten food. But what it also had was a library full of books.

Food was always a big part of my life. My grandfather was one of 14 kids and his parents had a pasta factory so as a kid he and his siblings would sell pasta door to door. After he became a movie producer he opened up De Laurentiis Food Stores - one in Los Angeles and one in New York.

When fast food is not a treat but a dietary staple the children surf the internet all day in dark corners of the room and are bombarded with latest gadgets. Things replace parental standards.

As the proud father of two teens and past Chairman to the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports I am committed to educating parents and especially young people on ways to live a long healthy and active life.

Parentage is a very important profession but no test of fitness for it is ever imposed in the interest of the children.

Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear.

Another parent's different approach raises the possibility that you've made a mistake with your child. We simply can't tolerate that because we fear that any mistake no matter how minor could have devastating consequences. So we proclaim the superiority of our own choices. We've lost sight of the fact that people have preferences.