Elmo addictions, and the babies that fight them... Next on Oprah

[siercia]

So, my little Widget has her first television based addiction, and his name is Elmo. It's awfully cute. It started with the 123 Sesame book, where she would kiss Elmo on every page. Then, it moved into a strong love bond with the singing Elmo she got for her birthday, which she literally wore out, she played it so often. Now we're to the point where she actually sings his little song in nonsense syllables, and if you say the name Elmo, she runs for the remote control and tried to find him on the teevee, and sits in front of the television slack-jawed when he's on screen.

Now, of all the children's television characters for her to love, Elmo's pretty high on my list - I, unlike many adults, have always loved the little guy. But for her to love Elmo this much is almost disconcerting. I'm not entirely comfortable with her liking television this much in general. Wiley wants to get her some Elmo tapes so she can watch it whenever, I'm holding back, feeling like perhaps Elmo-on-demand isn't the best thing for her to desire; that the limits imparted by broadcast hour might be a good way for her to learn that there need to be limits (good luck teaching that to an 18 month old). Partly too, I think I'm afraid I won't be able to resist the siren call of television-as-babysitter, and will fall into the habit of popping in a tape when I need her out of my hair, simply because it'll be so easy and convenient. I'm sure we'll end up getting some soon enough; I'll just need to be strong.

And it could be worse - one of Wiley's co-workers showed her Barney the other day, and she was equally transfixed. Ou house will continue to be a Barney free zone. If she doesn't learn the name, she can't ask for it, right? About the worst thing that Elmo visits upon us is how badly his song gets stuck in my head - now that she can sing the song, it never leaves.

Comments

la la la la

[sarahparah.livejournal.com]

Elmo loves his goldfish.. his crayon too....

Damn. Now it's in MY head too.

I have a ton of Elmo videos - yes, OK, I use them as a babysitter sometimes. But I feel like as long as I control the amount of time she spends in front of the TV things are OK. Some days she watches zero television for days and days - other times she'll watch Sesame in the morning, then a short video on the evening. And so long as you're the one who is exposing her to worthwhile programming (god, I sound like such the PBS snob), it will make it OK in your mind too. I despise the idea of her sitting in front of the Disney channel for hours on end, but a fixed amount of time with something educationalish and of decent quality (read: not crappy in my opinion) is OK.

Don't worry. The fact that your'e concerned about it means you won't let her become a couch potato. Just keep in mind that she lives in your house with you, so you need to set a good example too.

This morning was a Very Special Episode of Sesame Street - Mister Hooper's store caught on fire. Elmo was really scared and upset, and I'll tell you what: it was VERY upsetting for all of us (OK, Poopsie and me) to see Elmo not his chirpy perky self.

OK now I'm concerned about a muppet's emotional well-being. Heeeelp meeeeeee.

Re: la la la la

[siercia]

Hee. I can always count on you to buck me up.

I know some television is okay, I just don't think I want her to get used to television on demand. Any tips for breaking Wiley of his "tv's always on" attitude? I tend to turn it on only when she's napping or down for the night, except for checking weather and when there's something specific on (which is pretty rare during her waking hours), so I think I'm not doing too badly, but Wiley's a different story. *sigh*

Perhaps we'll compromise and only get one or two videos.

[asmodel.livejournal.com]

Television as babysitter... my friend's housemate is a single Mum, so he and his other housemate often end up babysitting. As the kid in question is a rather boisterous, attention-loving 4 year old, the two guys love the VCR. They don't know how they survived before the house got the VCR, and they actually had to play with Jackson to keep him occupied. They'd actively encourage him to choose the longer videos. 'No, don't choose Bob the Builder, that's a short video. Choose Antz, it's long. At least 128 minutes of babysitting time Jackson'.

I suppose you really can't blame them when they have to babysit him on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and he gets up at 7am, and having stayed over there a lot, I loved the VCR too.

[siercia]

Yeah, see, that's what I don't want to do. Or at least as little as possible, especially while she's this little. Maybe in a few years it won't pain me quite so much.

The lure of the babysitting VCR is a strooooong one.

[quiltlover.livejournal.com]

Elmo isn't bad, but I'm partial to the older Sesame Street characters like Big Bird, Grover, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie. I guess it's nostalgia because its what I grew up on -- Sesame Street began the year I was born. Julia went through a big Elmo period. I can't tell you how many times we watched Cinderelmo. But she grew out of it. Now she's into Barney big time! I used to hate Barney, too. I swore that the two B's would never enter my house (Barbie and Barney). But Julia loves them both. I think what she likes most about the Barney shows is all the singing and dancing. I still sometime feel like I want to slap the smiles off the kids on that show because they seem so fake, but I'm grateful for the occasional quiet time I get when she's watching a Barney video we borrowed from the library.

Have you seen Veggie Tales? I love those.

[siercia]

I haven't seen Veggie Tales, although I've heard good things about them. I'm definitely more attached to the older Muppets too, but Elmo dates from my baby-sitting years, and I've always though he was cute. I'm not so enamoured of Sesame Street's current format, but Widget does seem to like them. I can't take the Stepford children on Barney, no matter how many times I tried. I'm working really really hard to keep her away from Barney, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm still undecided about Barbie - I never really had them growing up, and I'm still uncomfortable with them, but I accept that they may be inevitable.