What's with Characters on everything?

[muskiesusan]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Spiderman or SpongeBob is appropriate for my toddler? It seems like these two are everywhere!

Just venting.....

Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01/01
& Alex 04/27/04

[egoldber]

I am so with you. I totally do NOT get the SpongeBob thing. The little I have seen of the show I cannot believe it is being marketed to toddlers and preschoolers!!!

[C99]

Ugh... I've been pondering the same thing since I bought Nate a pair of plain little slippers at Target. They have generic teddy bear faces on them and were $2 more expensive than The Wiggles or Elmo slippers. I don't want my kid marketed that much, so we got the teddy bears, but the price difference annoyed me.

[kalebsmama]

Ugh, I agree! Last week at preschool, one of the boys who just turned 2 had on a Batman cape. I called him Batman, and the teacher told me that he thought he was Spiderman! Either way, my DS has no idea who these characters are! I have come across SpongeBob a few times when flipping channels, and I don't get how it is appropriate for toddlers. I quickly flip on by before my toddler gets sucked in.

It's so hard to keep away from it all. It's so pervasive, and kids seem to know all about these characters and like them.

Vent away....I'll join you!

[Thatchermom]

Nope, I thought I must be the only one! Now that he is in preschool, DS knows these characters by name, and even told his Grammy that he wanted a "fighting spiderman" for Christmas. NO DICE, kiddo! I can't stand that they end up on everything. Even pull-ups, for goodness sake! Hello, diapers are for little ones. Spiderman is not and never was meant for little ones! DS really wants a scooter for Christmas and I had to work hard to find one without a character on it. I also found myself griping that "girl" characters were at least positive (princesses) whereas all the "boy" characters were about negative things (spiderman, monsters, etc.) What happened to innocent and sweet?

[Roleysmom]

I'm right there with you! It drives me crazy that characters are on everything. I wouldn't get a multi-pack of straw cups at Costo because they had Sponge Bob on them. It's nice to see this post because I always feel like I'm the freak who cares about this and everyone else thinks it is perfectly fine that infants and toddlers are being marketed to constantly. Yikes!

Paula -- mom to Roley Julia, January '02

[Melanie]

No, I totally agree with you. 100%!! It's difficult, but we do not buy or allow anything with characters on it (unless I weaken on occasion and buy something with Blue or Pooh/Tigger...but I try to keep it rare).

Ds got a Spiderman Scooter for his birthday. Okay, a little kid's 3 wheeled scooter?! WHY are they making them with SPIDERMAN? that is so not an appropriate story for toddlers. Luckily he also got a plain flame one.

[Thatchermom]

I turned down the Spongebob cups for the same reason, even though they were the brand we use. And the flame scooter is the one I finally got for DS - there were few options without characters. How is it?

[hjdong]

I have the Spongebob cups from Costco. I've never seen it, DS has never seen it, it just doesn't mean anything to either of us (except for a fantastic deal - 4 cups for $12). Maybe if I had ever seen it I would be more upset. I would agree that Spiderman isn't appropriate, except that I wouldn't really care because, again, DS has no idea what it is. I'm more concerned about him not seeing the shows and not knowing what the characters are than if they're on a cup for him.

JMO,

[hardysmom]

UGH.

Have you ever shopped for "big boy underwear?" It took 2 weeks to find reasonably priced, multi-packs of boys cotton underwear w/o characters.

BTW- Kohls and Sears carry "Hanes Classics" which are in solids or have cars, bugs, etc, but no cartoon / marketing characters.

Stephanie

[Melanie]

>
>Have you ever shopped for "big boy underwear?" It took 2
>weeks to find reasonably priced, multi-packs of boys cotton
>underwear w/o characters.
>

Yes, it's disturbing what age-inappropriate stuff they'll emblazen on little kid's underwear. Actually Ds wears Boxer Briefs though which are far and few between and apparently an untapped market by the toddler-character-addicting companies...so far. They are very hard to find, though, Hanes is the only ones I've found besides Hanna Andersson.

For anyone else looking, Kohl's didn't have them in toddler sizes, only size 4 and up. TRU/KRU has some...they are solid colors, nothing interesting. Target Has the kind with the exposed elastic waistband (the classics I think) in Toddler sizes in 2 packs of color combos like grey/navy or grey/black, etc. Walmart is the only place around that sells the nicer ones (go figure) that are tagless with the enclosed waistband in size 2-4 (I think). Yes, I've broken my "No Walmart Rule" for underwear. They just look more comfortable for him!

He's got a few pairs from Gymboree with an interesting print. In the end, the underpants novelty has worn off and he really doesn't care what he wears but as you know a desperate mom will buy ANYTHING to jumpstart the potty-learning process.

Oh, and if you are so inclined, the Hanna Andersson ones are MUCH softer/smoother knit than the others, but like I said, Ds doesn't really seem to care which pairs he wears.

(I think I'll copy this into the potty-learning forum...)