Recently Luke decided he was completely and totally obsessed with Elmo. The child hasn't so much as seen an episode of Sesame Street (or Elmo's World) since he was last with our old nanny last spring, yet somehow he not only knows who Elmo is, but he LOVES him.
Juan and I were rather taken aback when Luke started screaming for his one Elmo doll (given to him by said nanny for Christmas last year and promptly ignored for the following 10 months) earlier this month. Where did he learn Elmo's name? We frankly couldn't figure it out since there isn't a TV in his daycare center and we have a fairly strict no TV rule when Luke is awake. They do read Elmo books once in awhile at daycare, but Luke reads a lot of books. He reads books about doggies, books about steam shovels named Mary Ann, books about pigs who sing, and yet none of these books have caused him to go around the house shouting character names at the top of his lungs. Ask him who he loves, though, and he'll be only too happy to tell you, "ELMO!"
I confess, there's part of me that really and truly dislikes this development. I don't want my toddler obsessed with branded characters. I want him to play with a variety of toys and remain blissfully unaware of the Elmo/Dora/Diego/whatever marketing machine until he's at least able to poop on the potty. Still, I can't help but smile at the look of pure joy on his face when he cuddles his Elmo dolls (yes, we bought him another one) because he just doesn't get that look on his face for anything else.
I swear to God, Sesame Street puts something in the water, because there's just no other way to explain how fascinated toddlers (particularly mine) are with Elmo.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
So funny, we don't even watch it all that often and K is totally obsessed all of a sudden. He wants all his "Emo" books over and over again. L found an Elmo doll that had been tucked away and he's just beside himself. It's hit our house too!
How is that possible?? There's totally another kid at day care that is obsessed and it's rubbing off on Luke.
I have a dream that Robbie will be unaware of branded characters until he's in school (nothing you can do about friends at that point). Unfortunately, after reading this post, my dream has been effectively tossed in the trash. :(
Thanks a lot!
Ramekin likes Dora/Diego, but is more excited about the misc. characters in episodes: like Pirate piggies, or the witch and the prince... rather amusing how he makes up his own games around them later on.
But Elmo? shudder.
Ew. Yeah, G is not a Sesame Street fan at all. Thank goodness.
Look at it this way, at least you can control whether he WEARS the characters w/o feeling bad. :) I refuse to let my children be walking billboards for any company.
Oh, I know what you mean. We had the same thing with Disneyland posters at the travel agent.
Bea
Post a Comment