It has begun…
…the endless stream of toy commercials on all stations at all times of day, beckoning little children with bright colors and loud music to watch closely and memorize each detail of why that particular toy is so great.
Though they aren’t technically Christmas commercials, the increase in frequency is due to Christmas being just a few months away, and the hounding has now begun.
Count Dooku seems to know that more toy commercials=Christmas soon. So not only has he begun to try to sell me on certain toys, he is now asking how many days away Christmas is.
Come on child, let’s get past Halloween and Thanksgiving first!!
That’s not to say he hasn’t asked every day this week, “Is Halloween tonight?”, but he’s thrown Christmas in there a couple times too. After all, free candy is great but free toys? Even better!
Darn these marketers, playing with the poor kids mind. It’s been but two weeks since we first saw Halloween decor at Trader Joes, but for a child that feels like months, and it’s torturous. Not just for the kid who eagerly awaits the holiday but for the parent who has to say, “Not yet” or “Maybe for Christmas” or “It’s 99 days away” or “DON’T ASK ME AGAIN!!” a hundred times a day!
Curse you evil toy marketers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EDWARD YOUR A HAMSOME GUY ALL IM ASKING IS FOR BELLA TO HAVE THE BABY AND PUT...
I hear you!
My daughter got irritated at the first commercials she saw on tv and cried because the girl on the screen wouldn’t share her doll with her. I tend to stay clear of commercial based channels for this reason!
Noggin and PBS are our friends.
Oh yes! We don’t watch channels with a lot of commercials at home, but they do see them at daycare. And I’ve noticed that the “I want” level has gone up quite a bit since, unfortunately.
We circumvented the advertising coup by pulling the plug a few weeks ago.
I won’t say it hasn’t been painful or that we haven’t had TV withdrawals, but overall it’s a nice change.
We went to Costco today… Christmas gear is out in full force! Who needs Halloween? To heck with Thanksgiving! They make the most money on Christmas! Bring on the 12 foot tall snowmen and the animatronic motion sensor penguins that sing jingle bells!
Something that we are going to do tomorrow is make a countdown chain. It’s going to be all white except for the days we are looking forward to. Grandparents are visiting in a week and half - red link. Baby Girl’s birthday in 2 weeks - pink link. And so on… it really helps my kids understand the passage of time - one link equals one day.
But, uh, put it up high. When my oldest was little he totally destroyed one of our countdown chains and was celebrating. He had got to the last link so it MUST BE Christmas! :)
JC Penney in our area already has their Christmas stuff out. Halloween was limited to one little table in the aisle. We’re getting the, “Can I have this?” “Can I get that?” all the time too.
I hate it!
I couldn’t agree more!
My mom told me that she read recently that for every hour television a household watches, the household budget goes up 200.00 a year.
And people say TV doesn’t affect us.
I hate this time of year purely for the advertising. I love it otherwise.
Great post - I couldn’t agree with you more! My children are constantly asking for things they’ve seen on TV. I remember doing the same thing to my parents. What happened to Halloween and Thanksgiving - or just fall in general??? Must we skip straight to Christmas?
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I totally agree! We don’t get much TV commercial exposure - but there is no avoiding it in the stores! Christmas stuff in September??? Come on!
I liked the idea of Melissa’s countdown chain. We do a similar thing with a two month calender and stickers. The special days are marked with brightly colored smilie faces or stars and the kiddos get to stick a sticker on each day that passes. I’m just annoyed that I have to post a three month calender now : (
At Lowe’s by me they had Christmas stuff out over Labor Day weekend. I nearly cried…it was still 95 degrees out, for goodness sake. Can I please enjoy Fall before I have to think about Christmas???
Now that you mention it, that’s why I keep saying lately to the kids, ” Keep that idea, and you can tell Santa. Christmas is coming soon, but we have to get through Halloween and Thanksgiving first!”
Double curse those toy marketers.
I know! I see all the new toys and of course and thinking “ohhhh my kids need that” when really they don’t.