Day 175
When my youngest child was in preschool, I got a phone call from her teacher to let me know that Kelsey had sung a song to her class she heard on the radio on the way to school. “That beat is sick, that beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.” (Darn satellite radio, I wasn’t even paying attention to the lyrics)*
She is essentially a young blonde myna bird when it comes to regurgitating things she’s heard. Which makes her particularly susceptible to television advertising; she remembers it, repeats it and believes it. She will even share her wisdom with others.
“Oxy Clean will power that stain out, mom.”
“You know you could protect your children with Gerber Life.”
She often sounds like Mike Teavee from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, but –I swear- we do actually limit her intake.
Her seventh birthday is approaching and I asked her what she wanted as a gift. Since, I have to plan ahead to find appropriate used or recycled gifts. She said, “I want that fortune cookie maker from the commercial and HexBugs ,” also heavily advertised on television.
Kelsey, I said, remember we’ve how talked about how things aren’t always as great as they look on TV? And then I went on to remind her about last year’s AS SEEN ON TV Christmas, the Dippin’ Dots Frozen Dot Maker, Press Dough Cookie Maker and the Stompeez. All peddled with catchy songs and happy child actors and broadcast in thirty second bursts. None of which lived up to her expectations.
The Stompeez slippers were sent by an aunt and on backorder because apparently everyone wanted a pair of “fun slippers”. If you haven’t seen the advertisement, here is the link (although, I should make it clear, I am in no way endorsing them). At our house, there was much rejoicing when BeBop Bunny and the Unusual Unicorn finally showed up in mid-February. The rejoicing was short lived since left BeBop Bunny quit working immediately and the right soon followed. Unusual Unicorn didn’t work very well out of the gate, but if you stomp hard enough it can still get its eyelids up at half mast, sort of like it has been on a mythical creature bender. However, at least the kids can still use those to keep their feet warm, unlike the other plastic toys which are somewhere in the bottom of a storage box.
She listened carefully to my words of wisdom and reminders and agreed with me that those items weren’t as wonderful as she had imagined. But, ever the optimist, she looked at me and said, “This time I KNOW they are going to work.”
I’ll update you on her reaction when she gets an art box from Grandma and some Ebay Legos from us instead. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, she did already receive the HexBugs, from the Stompeez aunt.
*One day, she is really going to appreciate me telling the disco stick story.