I was about to be hateful

When I log on to AOL, the Welcome Screen pops up. And when I see something particularly interesting (a rare occasion), I click it.
And when my eyes lit upon a story about people attacking Sesame Street...I was there.

You see, I love Sesame Street. It was created when I was a child. The whole monster/animal/person interaction totally fascinated me. All the songs and music. I was in Heaven.
And it still rocks. I watched it with my children when they were younger. And it just kept getting better and better. Sesame Street has a knack for knowing what works, and what is NOW. I wouldn't be surprised to see Zoe with an ipod and Elmo asking when his play time is. And, of course, that will segue into a discussion about friends and all that good stuff.
Where else can you see Aaron Neville and Ernie singing a duet? Tony Bennet? So many movie/television/music stars sharing a street with puppets? And the neat thing being, the stars' kids are more excited about who their collective parent is spending time with and less on the parent being on television. I love that.
So I decided to read the article with reservations. I was prepared to be peeved. Perhaps fire off an email. I'm an email activist, by the way. *laughing* If you write it--I don't like it--you'll know it.

A group of people is irritated that Sesame Street has produced videos for the young crowd. The VERY young crowd. Viewers can be as young as six months.
The naysayers contend that it is ENTIRELY too young for children to be watching television. And they further contend it could do more harm than good. Coupled with the fact that these children will form a "commercial" (my word) attachment to these characters at such a young age.
I will say this:
Parents should be interacting with their children at this young age. Period.
Touching. Talking. Laughing. But I saw no harm in a parent popping in a rocking Sesame Street video and enjoying it with his/her baby. UNTIL...I saw the sentence about the child being attached to the characters.
This hit home.
My middle child already has her birthday (October) list at-the-ready. It consists of four baby Bratz and three sets of Twinz Bratz she doesn't have. She's attached.
My baby child loves Care Bears. She likes the soft, fluffy, happy bears a LOT. Those always top the birthday list.

What will these young Sesame Street viewers want? Elmo. Zoe. Big Bird. Cookie Monster. Ernie. You get my drift.
So while I don't necessarily mind the videos for youngsters, I mind the hell out of the marketing technique. Purposeful or not.

And as parents...don't you just want to scream at the television screen...For the love of God, QUIT! Cease and desist with the commercials that give kids the idea that the latest toy will make them cool/invincible/popular. Just damn quit.
So now I guess I'm grateful that I won't have to make this type of decision. Mine have long outgrown Sesame Street. No comment on my viewing tendencies.
But did you know...Bratz have their own cartoon?
Grins*