Hold On to Your Happy Meals
The corporate cruise has just begun. As a drove toward grandma’s with my little McNuggets safely strapped into their car seats, I suddenly heard an urgent and excited screaming from the back. “ Stop the car!” That’s Mr. Incredible!” “Look mom!” “You need to buy it.” Once I recovered from the near accident that their outburst caused, I turned down NPR, and explained to them that I couldn’t buy them the bus stop because it wasn’t for sale. They were skeptical and decidedly unconvinced by my reasoning, so I gave up and said that their father would get it for them because he had a bigger car.
James and Emma turned 3 and 4 this October; they’re larger than life (50 and 40 pounds) and louder than life as well. It’s probably the hormones in the hamburgers, but for whatever reason they turned into little people, while I was busy trying to catch up on sleep and laundry. As the proud parent of two human beings, something recently occurred to me, it hit me like a sack of bricks: Disney’s got me by the balls. Quite literally my children will do whatever the corporate cartoons tell them. The day after Christmas James asked me if tomorrow was Easter.
My daughter fell in love with Beauty and the Beast; fortunately she watches it with her grandfather, who adds a thoughtful perspective and wizened interpretation. Emma insisted that I sit through the entire movie with her, in the end the princess’s tears fall on the beast and he is magically transformed into a human again. I asked Emma if he was a prince, she said, “No mommy, grandpa said, that’s just another white guy.”
After 4 days of quality time and non-stop nagging about the Sponge movie I decided to fight back. I told the little darlings that we could not go see Sponge Bob because well he had had an accident. Nemo had tried to save him, but with his weak fin and all, he hadn’t been able to and Bob Sponge had drowned. Of course I got a tart note back from the daycare, asking that I have the decency to not bump off any more of their furry friends, but still it felt good. Sometimes positive parenting isn’t enough; sometimes you have to fight the power.
James and Emma turned 3 and 4 this October; they’re larger than life (50 and 40 pounds) and louder than life as well. It’s probably the hormones in the hamburgers, but for whatever reason they turned into little people, while I was busy trying to catch up on sleep and laundry. As the proud parent of two human beings, something recently occurred to me, it hit me like a sack of bricks: Disney’s got me by the balls. Quite literally my children will do whatever the corporate cartoons tell them. The day after Christmas James asked me if tomorrow was Easter.
My daughter fell in love with Beauty and the Beast; fortunately she watches it with her grandfather, who adds a thoughtful perspective and wizened interpretation. Emma insisted that I sit through the entire movie with her, in the end the princess’s tears fall on the beast and he is magically transformed into a human again. I asked Emma if he was a prince, she said, “No mommy, grandpa said, that’s just another white guy.”
After 4 days of quality time and non-stop nagging about the Sponge movie I decided to fight back. I told the little darlings that we could not go see Sponge Bob because well he had had an accident. Nemo had tried to save him, but with his weak fin and all, he hadn’t been able to and Bob Sponge had drowned. Of course I got a tart note back from the daycare, asking that I have the decency to not bump off any more of their furry friends, but still it felt good. Sometimes positive parenting isn’t enough; sometimes you have to fight the power.
posted by Ann Nomura at 8:44 PM
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