Advertising for the Adverse?

The televisions in a house with kids is often a window of products available in the world for the young minds. If you care to observe, the kids have nothing good to hear, see or learn from the unresolved menace of the idiotic box as we have known it from ages. The menace is not just the umpteen repetitions of programs and that of the advertising in between but also of the fact that I found my kids complaining that there is nothing good to watch. And yet they were glued to it. 

Even the humble newspaper of yore is now filled with advertisements that reminds kids of what they watch on the television. Add to this we have the flexes on the walls and on billboards on roads all scream out at the kids to scream for shopping. Couples in the developed world not having kids describe them as noisy and unnecessary. Thanks to the disinterest of the internet companies in some places they consider remote - to which they are yet to dare provide service - they remain unbelievably the most non-intrusive. 

Pulling the plug off would have been easy as we the parents were ourselves not having any entertainment either from the television services. However, there were things that had to be addressed before the plug was pulled. The kids always demanded things, new things, a different version of the stuff they already possessed, things that were not meant for their age, things that they would not care for once they have it and things that would ask for more stuff to be bought once they got it. It reminded me of people I met in The UK who thought of children as too noisy for their lives.

When things are wrong you need to identify where the problem is. Kids demand unceasingly and they become crankier when they do not have food at proper intervals. With too many stuff around they have little time to think of food. However, when stuffs break they do not ask for food they ask for more stuffs and use all their might to get it. As a first step make them eat, then make realize that the stuff they purchased lured by advertisement was no good and that if they buy more they would waste money on sub-standard products.

Thanks to the almighty who has created us as intelligent creatures. And kids are intelligent creatures too. Now, my kids make good judgment and ask for advice where they are suspicious. They read the labels and understand what stuff is made of artificial flavors and what are made of natural fruits. They, use their experiences to judge what breaks and know cheap material from good ones. They try to understand what things can do and what they need from it. They are now champions of spotting misguiding advertisers. They, say no to products on shelves and on the counters and not just go and grab them.

We are now disconnected from the television and the internet. Our kids are noisy in a good way. They know that people are not trying to sell good stuff to them. They find fun in using a rubber band and twigs for bow and arrow. They tackle dangerous street dogs with body language hurt them if needed. They are out with their bikes and stop by shrubs and trees and see snakes and flowers not in the zoo. They jump into streams and will soon climb trees. They do realize that man-made stuff can give fun but then there’s also the natural world out there to enjoy. And when you take time to do it together with family, let’s hope the intelligent advertisers would work on better ways to find better stuff to sell.