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As I am sitting here my 3 year old is watching Nickelodian and they have started bombarding the airwaves with toy commercials! This is the first year she has really noticed them and she is just overwhelmed!! Evrything they advertise she says "Oh Mommy please can we get that??" I have to keep reminding her Christmas isn't too far away. I am going to try to help her make a list by talking to her and helping her figure out the toys she really wants but it is going to be tough. The commercials really do make the toys look much better than they are. Also how about all these toy catelogs?? I think every company I have ever ordered from has sent me one in the past couple of weeks...she loves to look through them too!

DO your kids ask for everything they see too?

We're pretty lucky I guess because even when Macy sees a commercial, she hasn't begun to ask for stuff. When that does happen then I will have to start getting creative. I think right now the hard part is keeping ME from buying the cool new toys for them both! I am a sucker for what will surely make my kids as happy and entertained as the ones on TV....

As for the toy catalogs, I toss those in the recycle bin before I get back in the door with the mail - problem solved! I tned to look for stuff online rather than in a catalog as there are usually reviews and specs that I can check out too.

Could be just that our kids are too young (Zane for sure!) so I am interested in how others deal with it. Nothing like preparing for battle ahead of time!

My daughter too has just now started noticing the toy commercials.

We are going to use the catalogs and the sales papers to make our Christmas list! It's a fun art project and the kids really get to tell you what they want! We are making enough for the grandparents too! There almost always seems to be a mis-communication with something every year so I thought this would be a great way to SHOW exactly what the kids want and it helps the kids with fine motor skills as well! Get the safety scissors and let them start cutting out the pictures of the toys and things they want, let them glue those picture on some construction paper and at the end when all is dry, punch holes in the pages and use ribbon to tie them together!

As for the commercials, I think the only way to get around those is to turn off the tv! It being this close to Christmas you are just going to be seeing more and more! Thank goodness for PBS cartoons!

quote:

Originally posted by KE'smommy:
We are going to use the catalogs and the sales papers to make our Christmas list! It's a fun art project and the kids really get to tell you what they want! We are making enough for the grandparents too! There almost always seems to be a mis-communication with something every year so I thought this would be a great way to SHOW exactly what the kids want and it helps the kids with fine motor skills as well! Get the safety scissors and let them start cutting out the pictures of the toys and things they want, let them glue those picture on some construction paper and at the end when all is dry, punch holes in the pages and use ribbon to tie them together!

What a great project idea!

That would be a great project idea but I am afraid we would end up just gluing the catalog to the paper whole. LOL

I will definitely keep these ideas in mind for later on however! Keep 'em coming!

Almost every single toy commercial, Savannah will point and say "Can I have that?"

The good thing, there are so many toys that she never remembers any one in particular. As soon as the commercial is over, she moves on. I'm hoping that lasts for a while!

Alex is definitely in the phase of seeing something and then usually saying, "Mommy, get that for me!" Now, first of all, I'm upset because the little bugger is TELLING me, not ASKING me, so I usually reply, "um, I didn't hear you ASK me for anything, so I guess I'm not going to put in on the Christmas wish list", which usually has him then turning it around into a request. But, like Nate described, by the time the commercial is over, he's forgotten, so it's not like he badgers me for it at the dinner table, bedtime, etc. So I'm not very worried yet, but the hard sell days are yet to come, so that project described by KEMommy definitely sounds like something we'll be doing, also!

My son has just started this too. We usually don't let him watch commercial t.v but occasionally lately I have let him watch a show he likes on one of those stations. When he tells me to get his that toy, I say to myself "and this is why we don't watch these channels"
Noggin and PBS are great for no commercials and I truly try not to let him watch too much t.v but it is convenient sometimes when I need to get something done.
I think it's hard for me too because I have been guilty of splurging on things just because I love how fun it is when we get a new toy. But the novelty never lasts long, so I have to work on that too, i guess.
What should you say when they see those commercials, to a 3 yr. old?
I think he's too young yet to understand that the toy really isn't as great as it looks on t.v.
And what do you say so that he doesn't think he can have everything he wants when he sees it?
I've said the maybe for christmas line, but that sounds like he will get it.
Amanda

quote:

DO your kids ask for everything they see too?

That is one of the main reasons we don't have cable. We use our tv only with the dvd player. We just got back from a few days away on vacation where we let the boys watch tv and they wanted everything they saw! Oh, last January when we were at my in-laws' they were even convinced that they wanted the Shirley Temple dvd movie collection!

Holy cow. I absolutely know what you mean. Mommy I want that. Or Mommy we have that.....

I tell them they have to ask Santa and he can't carry everything they want so they have to choose carefully. I don't think that logic works with my 3yo.

But we are trying to nip it in the bud. Now that some of our favorites (backyardigans, dora, diego) don't come on Noggin anymore, they come on Nick Jr. And there are tons of commericals. So we have one of those dvd burner/vcr thingys....and we are using that to record the shows and cut the commericals out!!! YAY~!!

Thank goodness for Playhouse Disney. When my daughter is allowed to watch TV, she usually watches Playhouse Disney. No commercials!!

I know she does ask for everything she sees in the store: "Can we take the home mommy?" But so far, she is great about accepting no as the answer. Knock on wood!

I found the easiest way for me when my son (and then my daughter) started that was just acknowledge it.
Whenever I said that he couldn't have it, or implied in anyway that it wasn't going to happen, he didn't like that. And like all the others mentioned as soon as the commercial was over, he would forget about it. So for us it went like this:

Kid: Mommy, I want that!
Me: That's really great! (over emphasizing my excitement)
Kid: Can I have it?
Me: Put it on your Santa Clause (or birthday, or whatever was coming up next) and maybe you will get it.


This was short, sweet and to the point. I didn't have to argue, explain anything, and the kids didn't feel like I was saying no. It works for us.