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I've come to the realization that I have no right to be impatient with my toddler sons' short attention spans — mainly because I'm not sure if my own is any longer.

As I flipped through a recent issue of Parenting magazine, I noticed that I was turning pages at breakneck speed, stopping only when pretty pictures with bright colors or yummy looking food (it was near dinnertime) caught my eye.

The three ads that made me stop and look turned out to be an interesting grouping of brands. Did they make a “direct” connection? Let's see.

My hunger made the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish ad particularly appealing. A drinking glass half full of the cheesy crackers bore the tagline, “How children see this depends on what we teach them.”

Readers were directed to the Web site fishfulthinking.com, a destination designed to “inspire optimism and positive thinking” in children. Now, understand: For most families, Goldfish is one brand that doesn't need a lot of promotion. Kids love 'em, adults love 'em. They're crackers shaped like fish — what's not to love?

Still, this site manages to take it a step further. There's activities for kids and parents, presented in a way that doesn't hard-sell the product. But the branding isn't absent — there's promo for the new starfish-shaped crackers and a newsletter folks can sign up for as well. Nicely done.

Then there's Burger King, which caught my 2-year-old's eye with Snoopy. (He also pointed at the photo of the Spicy Chick'n Crisp and said “bread,” his favorite part of their sandwiches.)

Snoopy? He's even better than fish-shaped crackers! But was there a plug for BurgerKing.com, where kids can play a “Peanuts” game? Nope. It doesn't mean we won't be going to get our World War I Flying Ace toys, but it is a bit of a missed opportunity to sway parents that aren't as fry-friendly.

Vaseline is trying to sell me “a stronger formula to lock in moisture and fight even the driest skin.” Did a need to moisturize make me stop? Nah. It was the close-up shot of hundreds of fists, which when I looked closely resembled chocolates. (Gimme a break. I said I was puckish.)

If I wanted proof as to how well the lotion worked, I could go to Vaseline.com. Was I convinced? Eh. There's a lot of product info, and a 10% off coupon, and a ponderous description of what causes dry skin, but not much really exciting.

Much, much better was the microsite skinvoice.com, where users can share thoughts on what their skin means to them. Participants who tell their story are entered into a sweeps to win products like body butter. And the 30-second “Mighty” spot did more to make me want to slather on Vaseline products than any of the discourse on “stratum corneum.”

Mmmm. Body butter. Wonder how that would be on toast?