Monday, 21 November 2011

Maya falls for her first ad.

We've been asking Maya lately what she plans to ask Santa to bring her for Christmas.  She's been sticking with her love of animals and steadily requesting an elephant and a hippo.  Until yesterday, when she added another wish to her list:  "Hungry Hungry Hippos that are hungrier than ever".  Yup, directly from the commercial that airs at the start of her (current) favourite episode of Team Umizoomi.  Our baby has fallen for her first advertisement.  I'm not even sure she really knows what the game is about, except that it has hippos and the announcer makes it sound exciting. 

Jeff and I have no intention of allowing Santa to bring her Hungry Hungry Hippos.  While I loved the game as a child, I'm well aware that my sister and I didn't so much play the game as pound wildly on the little levers, creating a cacophony of sound and causing marbles to fly in all directions. I remember my Mom yelling at us pretty much anytime we played the game, and now that I'm a mom myself I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND.  The game would drive me nuts.  To say nothing of how tempted Chloe would be by the little white choking hazards marbles. Nope, Jeff and I were rapidly in agreement that this was not a good idea.

We were, however, at a bit of a loss as to how to let Maya know that Santa might not bring her this coveted toy.  She was oblivious to hints that maybe Santa wouldn't bring everything she wished for. We tried telling her that maybe Santa wouldn't know where to get Hungry Hungry Hippos. "Don't worry, he'll just make it in his toy shop", Maya reassured us.  Thankfully, I finally had a brainwave.  I told her I looked the game up on the computer and the computer told me that the game was only for older children, and Santa would know this and wouldn't be able to bring her Hungry Hungry Hippos this year, but maybe another year when she was old enough, if she still wanted it she could ask again.  Amazingly, she accepted this without complaint.  "Maybe when I am 9, that will be old enough." 

Phew.  Crisis averted.

Now to start planning some media awareness discussions before she falls for the next toy ad ...
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous21 November 2011 at 23:08

    We told Jack that it's a wish list, not a list of demands. When Santa gets to your house and he looks in the sack, there will be something perfect for you, and Sanata knows exactly what it is! Besides, this is just the run up, the really good ads don't come on until later...and she will not remember she wanted the loud, terribly upsetting, choking hazard of a game until someone she knows gets it. Then we say, it's GREAT that your friend's have different toys than you! That's what my sister told me to do ;) Colleen

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  2. Alana22 November 2011 at 01:56

    I used to give my kids the opportunity to put 3 gift requests in their letter to Santa. That way, he had something to choose from. You see, the elves could only make so many of any 1 item, and with all the children asking, sometimes it was not possible to give a particular child that item. But with a choice of 3, they were sure to get 1 of the 3. They bought it for years LOL

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  3. Lynn22 November 2011 at 08:14

    Lucky for us, our kids are terrified of Santa. The past few years I have taken them to the mall to see him - we completely avoid the whole letter writing thing - and none of the three of them would even approach him, let alone ask for anything. So we've been able to tell them that "Santa will bring you something he thinks you will like" and they've all been happy with that. PHEW.

    I recorded Team Umizoomi on Friday by Maya's recommendation. Our youngest watched it yesterday and is a new firm fan. It's known as "that show Maya likes" when she asks about it. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  4. ltimonin22 November 2011 at 21:26

    You need the sealed little girl version! Perfect for the top of the sock.

    http://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Hippos-Fun-Run-Game/dp/B00000IWIK

    Mae still plays with hers. And also the mini crocodile dentist. Everybody plays with that.

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