Time To Cut Back On The TV...

Yesterday I was taking the kids food shopping with me to my favorite food store - Publix. As we were parking the van Sydney asked where we were (she totally knew but one of her more annoying habits is asking questions that she knows the answer to). I told her Publix. She said, "No we're at the Yellow Store." (She calls most of the store we frequent by color rather than name which is a whole different topic) I said, "Yah, the yellow store is Publix." She went on to ask, "What's the red store called?" Me, "Target." Sydney, "What's the blue store called?" Me, "Wal-Mart." Sydney "Yah, Wal-Mart, a proud sponsor of Playhouse Disney!" Me, "hahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahha". Sydney, "Wal-Mart, a proud sponsor of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." Me, "hahahahhahahahahah, I've got to call your Dad and tell him what you just said."

In case you don't get why I was laughing so hard and couldn't wait to call Jeff and tell him what she said it's because every morning the kids get to watch TV for a while (I won't say how long because you'll all think I'm an absolutely terrible parent). Basically it just sticks on one channel that they love (the Disney channel) which shows some pretty good preschool cartoons that are adored by my kids. I knew that they were learning stuff from the cartoons (Syd has surprised us a few times with her knowledge of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Statue of Liberty and other art and music things from The Little Einsteins) but had no idea that the one half commercial that they have was having such an effect on my kids. I call it a "half" commercial because it's not really a commercial "selling" stuff, but a few second clip that comes on saying "Presented by Wal-Mart, a proud sponsor of Playhouse Disney." Seriously, the advertising is working even if it's not "true" advertising - they're not selling anything specific, but a store or brand. Scary if you ask me. And here I thought I was safe letting my kids watch the Disney Channel early in the morning because there's no real advertising making my kids want certain toys or foods, but well, Wal-Mart is know ingrained in their minds and I don't know that that's a whole lot better.