Some thoughts on TV...

Am I the only one a touch disturbed by the all-encompassing invasiveness of children's toys?

I don't mean how you find bath toys under the bed and Legos under the couch cushions. I mean how Barbie (for example) isn't just dolls anymore. It's series of dolls, apparel, "appropriate" accessories for both the child and the doll, tableware, bed linens, bathroom accessories, movies, books (coloring and story), all of which combine to exhaust any potential for the child herself to have a say in what happens in Barbieland.

I mean, when Barbie was just dolls (okay, and clothes, houses, and cars) at least you could make up her personality and what happened to her. Sure, Ken and PJ (does that date me or what?) weren't an entire Homecoming Court of syncophants like she has now. But the relationships were determined by the child, not a marketing team in a board room. That turns those "movies" into extended toy commercials, doesn't it?

With the movies, though, you can reenact scenes from the movie or not, but you already have her voice and personality determined, as well as all of the other folks in the line/film.

I realize Dora started out as software and has morphed into an entire franchise as well, with Diego added for additional marketing to the male child demographic. That I can forgive because she had to have a personality in the genesis of it. But when something like the Weebles and Fisher-Price toys have their own TV show or videos, it really has gone too far.

I'm not even going to touch on using the TV to teach your kid morals and ethics. I'm lucky to have even gotten this much vented.