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Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL and we bought Jenn's birthday present.
The girls had chipped in $12, and I agreed to make up any difference. (That really annoyed Ana, who had donated the bulk of that $12 and was hoping to get some change back!)
Anyway, we bought the present and headed home, where I left the present on Jenn's bed figuring we couldn't lose it that way. Ana found it there today and was VERY CONCERNED.
"Why would you do that? Leaving it on her bed? What were you THINKING, Connie?"
"That it's not that big a deal? It's wrapped!"
"What if Mommy saw it there, and got so tempted she couldn't help herself, and she opened it early?"
"You do realize your mother's a grown-up, right?"
"That's not the point. I'm going to put this away."
And she did, right on the same spot we always hide presents, the top shelf of the pantry.
But getting back to our story, on the way home Ana spotted an ad for Gatorade, and it really baffled her.
Ana: I just don't get it.
Me: Get what? Let's cross the street here.
Ana: The sign. How can a drink give anything to a family and the mailman?
Me: The what now? Guys, let's not hold hands, it's a little -
Ana: THE SIGN! It doesn't make any sense!
Me: - crowded on the sidewalk. Ana, I have no idea what you're talking about.
Ana: There's a SIGN. And it has a mom, and a dad, and two kids, and a mailman. And Gatorade!
Me: Gatorade?
Ana: Yes!
Me: That doesn't make any sense.
Ana: No! And I don't get it. The Dad is mad, but it doesn't say why, and the mailman is smiling -
Me: Wait, what? Oh. Oh, no -
Ana: and the mom is just looking embarrassed, and I don't get it.
Me: Well, now I *do* get it, thanks Ana.
Ana: You do?
Me: Yeah, but... I'm not sure I'm going to explain it to you. It's a little inappropriate.
Ana: Well, at least I have one clue. The sign says "Gatorade gives you energy".
Me: Yeah....
I didn't explain it to her at all. NO IDEA where to start!
Other things I didn't point out: The fact that the advent calendars we picked up with the birthday present change feature 17 children, every last one of whom is white. I knew we should've gone with penguins! I'm considering a firmly worded email to the company, but I'm not sure how to word it. Can't we try for a little proportion, people? (And I feel so silly, because it's just an advent calendar, but it's not unimportant, is it? Because it's not just this one thing or that one thing, it's every one of them piled up together in a big load of... I don't know.)
Anyway, we bought the present and headed home, where I left the present on Jenn's bed figuring we couldn't lose it that way. Ana found it there today and was VERY CONCERNED.
"Why would you do that? Leaving it on her bed? What were you THINKING, Connie?"
"That it's not that big a deal? It's wrapped!"
"What if Mommy saw it there, and got so tempted she couldn't help herself, and she opened it early?"
"You do realize your mother's a grown-up, right?"
"That's not the point. I'm going to put this away."
And she did, right on the same spot we always hide presents, the top shelf of the pantry.
But getting back to our story, on the way home Ana spotted an ad for Gatorade, and it really baffled her.
Ana: I just don't get it.
Me: Get what? Let's cross the street here.
Ana: The sign. How can a drink give anything to a family and the mailman?
Me: The what now? Guys, let's not hold hands, it's a little -
Ana: THE SIGN! It doesn't make any sense!
Me: - crowded on the sidewalk. Ana, I have no idea what you're talking about.
Ana: There's a SIGN. And it has a mom, and a dad, and two kids, and a mailman. And Gatorade!
Me: Gatorade?
Ana: Yes!
Me: That doesn't make any sense.
Ana: No! And I don't get it. The Dad is mad, but it doesn't say why, and the mailman is smiling -
Me: Wait, what? Oh. Oh, no -
Ana: and the mom is just looking embarrassed, and I don't get it.
Me: Well, now I *do* get it, thanks Ana.
Ana: You do?
Me: Yeah, but... I'm not sure I'm going to explain it to you. It's a little inappropriate.
Ana: Well, at least I have one clue. The sign says "Gatorade gives you energy".
Me: Yeah....
I didn't explain it to her at all. NO IDEA where to start!
Other things I didn't point out: The fact that the advent calendars we picked up with the birthday present change feature 17 children, every last one of whom is white. I knew we should've gone with penguins! I'm considering a firmly worded email to the company, but I'm not sure how to word it. Can't we try for a little proportion, people? (And I feel so silly, because it's just an advent calendar, but it's not unimportant, is it? Because it's not just this one thing or that one thing, it's every one of them piled up together in a big load of... I don't know.)
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A letter to the Gatorade company might be in order as well, saying that 'jokes' about adultery are neither amusing nor appropriate, and you don't appreciate having to explain them to grade-school children.
My policy was always to tell my girlie whatever she wanted to know, on the theory that mystification only whets curiosity and erodes trust. In order to explain this moronic ad, you'd first have to explain that in centuries past, milkmen delivered milk to individual houses, where women were often home alone after their husbands went to work, and thus a lot of stupid jokes sprang up about wives being unfaithful with the milkman. The ad is implying that the type of 'energy' one gets from Gatorade is sexual prowess, which is both untrue and inappropriate.
IMHO it's never too early to teach children to sneer at advertisements of all sorts. Gatorade is unhealthy, tooth-rotting, pancreas-trashing, obesity-causing chemical garbage manufactured by a particularly blood-sucking multi-national corporation, and NOBODY ought to be drinking that shit at all, ever; particularly children (http://www.publicschoolreview.com/articles/232). The fact that PepsiCo is using sleazy sex-jokes to try and sell their toxic waste can be the basis for some very instructive discussions about the character of corporate advertisers, and their opinion of the mentality of people who buy their crap.
Correction...
Re: Correction...
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