My DD knows who Elmo is!!!

[newnana]

The only tv DD watches at home is Signing Times, and not very often. At bathtime last night, I took off her diaper and wrapped it up like I always do. She looked at it with this adorable, excited, astonished look on her face and yelled, "ELMO!!!" Then proceeded to bend down and pick up her dirty diaper.

I already didn't like that they watch TV sometimes at school, but am trying hard not to be the problem parent. I'm sure there is some sort of aerosol cocaine that Elmo sprays to get these kids addicted to him and she could have picked it up from just seeing him once... or is it heroine that you get addicted to after one time. Dunno. DD could be a genius and could do that after just one time.... I could be psycho super senstive about this issue, but c'mon.

Whenever they have "movie day" at school (big DC, 4 toddler classrooms for 1 YOs) they do tell us on her sheet and say what they watched. Typically 2 shows.

Do DCs typically watch TV? Should I be this upset about it? (probably not). Should I be the problem parent on yet another issue (our DD is a biter)?

UGH. Thanks for listening!
Michelle

[lilycat88]

DD learned all of the Sesame Street characters on the Pampers Cruisers thanks to daycare. She doesn't watch much television but she has watched some Sesame Street. The character recognition definitely came from "oh...let's change that Elmo diaper and put a Big Bird one one". Ugh.

You know, I just have to keep telling myself that we're not going to be able to shield her from "characters" forever and that's ok. It's not like she's sitting in front of Elmo for hours as her mind slowly turns to mush.

I was dismayed about 6 months ago when DD came home from daycare singing the insidious I Love You Barney song from he**. DH and I marched right in and accused her daycare of playing Barney videos to the 1 year olds. Turns out, the song was on a CD and it was the favorite song of one of the other kids. So, they sang the song. I was quietly elated the other day when DD saw a BArney DVD playing in the van next to us and she pointed out the "dinosaur". She still doesn't know who BArney is at 28 months. Small victories! Her current preschool only has 1 television for the entire facility (200+ kids) and it is only brought out when they want to play a DVD as part of the curriculum. I'm pretty sure Barney isn't going to fall into any teacher's curriculum. :-)


Jamelin
Mom to Susanna born 6/29/2004

[kedss]

Sorry about Elmo, its tough, in a daycare situation to be TV Free, I hated it when I taught, but it was the school's thing when the weather wasn't good enough for them to play outside.

Also, kids do talk about the TV characters, I know a bunch of my students had never seen power rangers(that I know of) yet the boys all pretended they were power rangers, and batman and spiderman.

Hang in there, mama!

[newnana]

Thanks ladies, you are so reasurring.

I know they take great care of DD there, which is why we picked it. They read a lot and play hard and really take care of her, which is what I have to remember. I"m sure she also see's them in books and knowing her teachers they talk about what they learned on the show.

Even better that you responded so quickly... before I have to pick her up in 45 minutes. Thank you!!!
Michelle

[californiagirl]

Elmo is DD's favorite Sesame Street character. And she has NEVER seen Sesame Street. Not even once. Daycare is TV/Video free, we have no TV at home, it isn't played on airplanes or at her grandfather's house... But there are books and toys and diapers and pbskids.org...

[Nicsmom]

Maybe she recognizes Elmo from a toy they have in school. It might not even be from watching tv.

[newnana]

more great points, ladies. I went to pick her up today and there was a big elmo doll that one of the other kids was playing with. Of course, they watched 2 more videos today and the weather was pretty nice, but you are right. Elmo is in books and toys and many other educational things! Thanks for the encouragement!
Michelle

[oliviasmomma]

How old is DD? I think it's pretty cool that she recgonized ELMO and was able to connect the guy from the tv to the guy on her diaper! (Not that I wouldn't be upset too--I can't stand Elmo or the over-commercialization of our children!)

Just trying to find a bright side...

PS DD has watched Teletubbies about five times at my parent's house. All I have to say is "Time for teletubbies" and she runs to the tv, grrrr.

[Radosti]

The TV in our bedroom has terrible reception and no sattelite feed. One time, I flipped Elmo on when I had to run to the bathroom and Elmo was all fuzzy and almost unrecognizable. A couple of weeks later, we were at Costco and all of a sudden DS started making happy baby squeaks and pointed excitedly. Yup, they had a wall of Elmo dolls. I got him one (it was $12) and he loves it. He recognizes Elmo on everything and in every place. Elmo must be baby crack, you are right. Oy...

[Fairy]

First of all, my pre-school (when did daycare become a dirty word?) has no TV, EVER. They are run like a classroom with structured social play time for toddlers. There are special events (cuz it's a Jewish family center for the community) where they'll have movie nights or something like that, but the regular daycare day, no. There is no TV or videos. So, if your daycare is doing videos, and you don't want that to happen, I'm here to tell you, there are places that don't do TV.

Now, as for Elmo, there is a reason kids love him. He's cute. He's cuddly. He's red. He's got a cute giggle. His voice is goofy. What's not to love?

Tho, I was always partial to Bert.

[stefani]

So did DS at 2 years old! I don't think it was from TV, but yes, there are dolls, books, etc. with Elmo, Barney...

DS would insist on wearing Elmo pull-ups and would throw a fit if I put on a regular diaper (Mickey)... I think somehow those characters are easy to get addicted to.

DS picked out a Thomas pajamas all by himself in the store (with Grandma), and there would be tears to change him out of his PJ to outside clothes. He would also grab the PJ out of folded clean laundry pile and wanting to put it on.

[kedss]

yup, I liked Bert too. :)
and I reallllly miss Kermit!

[aliceinwonderland]

I had never heard of a preschool with TV until now. Ours has none either, I do not think they own any TV sets, and neither did any of the schools we applied to.

That said, my DS does not like Sesame Street, never watches it, and..."Elmo" was his 4th or 5th word, certainly before "mami". We had a very comical moment where the three of us were in a bookstore, each looking at books, when DS calmly points out "Elmo". We had never heard that before, and were fretting about his "verbal development" at the time. LOL.

He loves Elmo, I just ordered a couple of DVDs for him since Sesame Street is so out of favor. he is getting an Elmo TMX as part of his Christmas gift and I know he'll get a huge kick out of it. I cannot wait to see his reaction, LOL :)

[deannamorrison]

I'm sorry that you're upset with the fact that your DD is now familiar with Elmo.Would you be interested in switching to nanny care? You might have a little more control as to what your dd watches:) Hopefully you can come to a satisfactory conclusion.

Deanna
Mommy to Julia 2/15/02 and Anya 10/3/03

[C99]

>First of all, my pre-school (when did daycare become a dirty
>word?) has no TV, EVER. They are run like a classroom with
>structured social play time for toddlers. There are special
>events (cuz it's a Jewish family center for the community)
>where they'll have movie nights or something like that, but
>the regular daycare day, no.

When did preschool become a synonym for daycare?

[cmdunn1972]

DS is 18 months old. He has a 25-30 word vocabulary, and Elmo's on the list.

All I have to say is I'm thankful it's Elmo and not SpongeBob! LOL

[newnana]

Thanks everybody!!!

I'm going to go with this true statement from a pp :
"He's cute. He's cuddly. He's red. He's got a cute giggle"


The DC is phenomenal, and if she loves it and is safe, well cared for, and learning a lot of stuff (she is), then I'm happy to.

Heck, she runs and hides from me when it's time to leave. She loves it there. What's a little Elmo here and there. Funny thing is, I asked her teachers about it this morning and they said they only watched Sesame Street once, that one of the other parents brought it in. It was about a month ago. I'm going to stick to my initial statment that Elmo is an instantly addictive drug like Heroin, but at least it's something sort of educational!


Thanks for all the support. Oh, and I didn't realize DC was a bad word either. Take care,
Michelle