Get infomercials off Nickelodeon
Image by Howard O. Young via Flickr
This is the first thing my daughter Mika, age 5, said to me the other morning.
“Mom, do you know how to make ice cubes?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so.”
“Then you know how to make the PerfectBrownie™!”
On another recent day, she told me I could “turn my hair from flat to fabulous with the Instyler™.” This Christmas, she asked Santa for a Bumpit™. She gave her Grandma a Snuggie™. Last year, all she wanted was a Chia Pet™.
My kid is a veritable encyclopedia of products As Seen on TV. Why? All of these products advertise extensively on Nickelodeon, network home of “SpongeBob” and “iCarly.” Why, again? Because Nick is basic cable, and basic cable air time is cheap. Just like these products.
I can’t shield my child from our consumerist nation forever. But exhorting five-year-olds to wear their hair like Sarah Palin is a bit much, don’t you think?
Her latest object of desire? The Emery Cat™, a nail-filing gadget for felines. “It’ll save our curtains and furniture!” she shouted.
“Honey,” I said. “We don’t have a cat.”
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A better solution: Take your kids out from in front of the television. Turn it off. Throw it away.
As someone who has gone without television for over two years now, I can vouch for the fact that television warps your mind.
I recently had a run-in with television, and I absolutely can not believe that people sit in front of it for hours on end every day. It’s pure psychological warfare. After 20 minutes of Food Network, I came away wanting to buy a car, get prescription drugs for an illness I may or may not have, and felt the urge to go to Burger King and buy three Whoppers.
Television is mind rot.
Turn it off.
My kids (ages 6, 9, and 11) have a no TV during the school week rule. No video games either. Weekends have loads of interesting things going on, so they don’t get nearly as much TV as others might.
Nevertheless, my oldest has picked up expressions that could only have come from a TV advertisement: “Hey Dad, Great News!…”
You can’t stop the onslaught of advertising, but you can keep an eye on it and teach children what it is and how it works.
On Demand has tons of Nick shows. I think there may be commercials at the beginning but you could always fast forward through them.
I watched an incredible amount of TV growing up–I suppose I still do–but I’m not a warped Burger King-eating, car buying moron. There’s nothing wrong with TV, just with the people who watch it.
On the subject of television being generally bad for you, I believe it is absolutely true. Since my boyfriend has moved out, I haven’t had his glorious 32 inch HD television in my room, and I’ve given up gaining the motivation to move my old TV back.
Subsequently, I recently bought a few books from the bookstore, and have been reading non-stop when I’m bored, and want to stay in my room for the night. Taking the TV out was such a fantastic improvement in my life because my pile of unread books is slowly dwindling!