My son has taken notice of the Mother's Day commercials on TV this week and like most commercials, they have caused him some distress. I try not to have the TV on much, but when I do, I can't get to the remote fast enough to change the channel.
He has nightmares and trouble sleeping every time he sees one of those horrible home alarm system ads, that have a mother and her child screaming because someone kicked their door in. He now thinks any neighbors he doesn't know, are waiting to breakdown our walls and get him in the night.
After seeing several department stores ads about what your "supposed to get your mother for Mother's Day", he came to me and told me in a weak voice "I don't think I can give you a present for Mother's Day because I don't have any money" and he started to cry.
So we had yet another talk about what TV commercials really are and then I told him that all I needed for Mother's Day was a smile and a hug. He was not convinced, so I asked him what he would buy me if he did have money.
He said he would buy me "a fancy dress to wear on special occasions". At first I thought, how sweet, but then I realized that he has never seen me in a dress. It's been years since I wore one.
I suppose he just thinks that fancy dresses and the like, are things that women must want because that's what the TV says. It's no wonder so many adults today are held captive by materialism, if they grew up believing everything they saw in an ad.
I guess I need to do a better job showing him how to live happily without the "stuff" and turn off the TV even more. Maybe then he will quit telling me we need that upside down tomato grower so we can have "over 200 tomatoes". Now what would we do with 200 tomatoes?
Sometime it's feels like I'm living in my own version of "The Truman Show" around here.
May 4, 2010
What Mommy Doesn't Want for Mother's Day
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2 comments:
Wow eh ! But you are doing one heck of job raising that kid right - not many would even care to go through that talk about the ads and instead 'talk them down'.
"We don't need no bull of a security system - your pappy's all we need for a security system" ... or along similar lines.
But kids do notice what other have and what they themselves don't - I remember well those times. Till I learned to let go of it - and understand that not everyone can have the same thing at the same time !
That's funny. I wonder how he would react if you put on a dress?
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