All I Want for Christmas is a Happy Kid!
The Christmas season has arrived in our house. You can tell by the cries of "I want that!" eminating through every room. Even baby girl has gotten in on the action by shouting "I that!" when she sees a toy advertised on TV. In the spirit of the holiday, Lila's preschool teacher sent home an article for us parents to read. The topic? The most appropriate toys for us to buy our kids this year. I'll spare you the nitty gritty and give you the gist - Don't buy any toy advertised on TV or any toy associated with a TV program. It promotes more TV watching and that's bad for little minds. And you can forget about those kid friendly video and computer games. Too many of them star cartoon characters and that takes us right back to TV show tie ins.
It seems to me that this article is setting parents up for failure. I can see where this plan would work for kids who don't watch any tv. For the other 97% of kids in America, Christmas morning might be a little disapointing. Especially considering just about any toy you find in a store this time of year was advertised on TV at some point. As parents, we all want to do what's best for our children. So do we follow what the experts think is best and buy commercial free toys, or make our kids happy and get that Dancing Dora doll?
Why does everything have to be so complicated? Can't we do both? Why can't I get my daughter glue and glitter, as well as the Dora doll? Isn't moderation the key in any indulgence? I appreciate the teachers efforts to help us traverse this parenting thing, but what she really accomplished was adding more angst about the effort we're putting forth. Parenting is tough.
I guess I'll just have to do the best I can out there. Carefully balancing my children's developing minds and their desire for cool stuff to play with. If I find that toy at Wal-Mart, I'll let you know.
posted by Jenn @ 10:11 AM
7 Comments:
I understand the whole no TV thing, however I would rather buy a toy that 'my kid' is going to play with, then something you waist your money on that is going to sit in the corner because your child has no interest in it.
Not to worry, you can buy them the educational non-TV toy, Mary and I will buy them the Sponge Bob extravaganza-interactive-video game-cook wear set. I like being the favorite non-related uncle. :)
Ah, that's what friends are for! For this method to work, you gotta start before the kid is born. Remove all tvs and never let them go to anyone else's house.
the theory of not buying you kids anything advertised on TV is what lead my parents to giving me the same pair of jeans 3 years in a row.
They were so oversized the first year that it took me 2 years to grow into them...
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Pathetic! That's almost as bad as the time they made you wrap your own gifts. What a fun xmas morning that must have been.
I'll forgive, Oz. I do the same myself. I think when you deprive a kid something like tv or sugar you end up with more problems. You've got it made this season. You don't even have to get Ella something, she'll never know!
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