Kids & Media

I have never been a huge fan of young children knowing every TV show on PBS and amassing a huge collection of character toys, clothing, dishes, etc. For some reason seeing one year olds that can already name syndicated characters just rubs me the wrong way. I'm not really sure why. I guess I don't really approve of kids watching a whole lot of television and I hate the idea of consumerism getting to my toddler at such a young age. For the most part we've steered clear of the character stuff, but two have slipped through my radar- Elmo and Thomas. Now, I have absolutely nothing against Elmo. In fact, I am a fan of the Sesame Street program and all things Jim Henson. Elmo slipped in with a couple of toys and a whole bunch of You Tube clips that we used to entertain Anna. Thomas began when Anna found a Thomas DVD at the library and wanted to take it home and I thought, sure, Anna's really into trains and I don't mind encouraging that. Since then she has had an amazing eye for spotting anything Thomas at the library. For some reason, I find myself very irritated whenever the narrator in those videos describes Thomas as "a cheeky little engine." I think Anna is thrilled with anything to do with trains, though, not just Thomas.

Oh, well. I can live with Elmo and Thomas, but please, let's steer clear of Barney and that Yo-Gabba-Gabba stuff, okay?

Here are some photos we took today at the bookstore. We were killing time there while our car was being serviced a few doors down the road.

Nope, Mommy is definitely not ready for Disney princesses, either.

Anna signing "please" while we had a snack in the cafe.