Angry Rant

** This started out as a cute little story and quickly became very angry... Beware! :) And it really has nothing to do with poor 'ole Bank of America...

The other day Parker said to me, as we where sitting at a stoplight, "Look mom. There is Bank of America". I asked him how he knew that and he simply said, "I learn lots of things from cumusicals". (That is 'commercials' in Parker language!) :) Sad and cute at the same time. Think of what kids learn and hear that we have no idea they are getting! The other night the same thing happened with Carson. We were driving home late from Nanu & Papa's house down a dark county road and we think everyone is sleeping. All the sudden Carson says, "McDonalds!" really loud. We look around and sure enough, WAY down the street is a McDonalds BILLBOARD! It's a pretty sad commentary on society when McDonalds is one of many kids first words. I remember the same was true of Parker.

Kids and adults are inundated with advertising these days! It makes me sooo MAD! I literally can't take Carson to the grocery store anymore because EVERYTHING has some sort of character on it. A few months ago I really lost it when we were shopping and Carson was flipping out the WHOLE time. Every single aisle and section of the store had some sort of superhero/nick jr./disney channel character on it. As soon as I would hurry and leave one aisle and get him calmed down we would get to the next section and it would happen all over again. This went on and on. The final straw is when we got to the frozen veggies and he started begging and crying again. I couldn't believe it but there to my side were bags of FROZEN GREEN BEANS with MICKEY MOUSE on them! WHAT!? Do these companies have no shame!!!! They know that 70% of the parents out there will buy their green beans just to get their kids to stop crying in the middle of the store! It's horrible!! Now I have Parker who says to me all the time... "Mom - are you not going to buy that 'cause it has a character on it?" Does that make me mean? It sounds so sad. Of course we still get fun things for the kids here and there, but I will not be tricked into submission and into buying expensive green beans because Mickey Mouse is gracing the package!!!

ONE LAST EXAMPLE... Even with my long rant - I am still weak - The last time Parker was at the store with me I told him he could pick out the cereal he wanted and he chose a new Animal Planet cereal with a picture of a Polar Bear on it. I kept telling him and explaining to him what kind of cereal was inside because I thought it looked so gross. He insisted on it and guess what... He tried one bite and hated it. It is still sitting in our pantry because I REFUSE to throw it away... I can picture it in my mind... A dark room with a sinister air... Men in business suits talking in quiet yet aggressive tones... Sitting in a meeting and saying things like, "I don't care what type of cereal you make up to put in the box! Just make sure it has a Polar Bear on it and the Animal Planet logo is REALLY big! And raise the price up by 35%. Animal Planet is really hot right now."

OK. Enough of that. I will settle down now...