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Yesterday morning Scott decided to go outside before the bus came to get some fresh air and calm his nerves a bit.  It was pretty cold out so he put on a hat and gloves and then grabbed his basketball.  As I was prodding Jane, aka The Dawdler, to get ready in time for the bus pick-up, Scott came barging back into the house.

"Mommy!  You know how on TV they say, 'Call your doctor if you experience a sudden drop in blood pressure'?  Well, I think that's happening to me, because my face is all red and I feel like the blood is dropping out of it!"

I tried to keep a straight face, knowing exactly where he heard "that" on TV.

"Oh, no, you're fine.  You just feel that way because it is so cold outside.  That TV commercial is talking about something that would happen to a grown up if they took that medicine."

With that he calmed down, grabbed his backpack, and ran outside to catch the bus.

And I was left to wonder if tomorrow he'd ask:

"Mommy!  You know how on TV they say to call your doctor if you experience an erection lasting for more than four hours?"

Anyone who watches sports with their child will know what I am talking about here and how completely annoying it is to be inundated with these commercials.  I understand that the advertising dollars are lucrative, but wouldn't it be great if you could enjoy sports with children without having to feel like they see so much inappropriate garbage?  Cialis, Viagra, beer commercials, violent movie previews, news of sports stars being charged for sexual assault, the list goes on and on.  Matt and I have wondered why ESPN can't just have an ESPN For Kids station, I'd even pay for it, like I do for HBO, where parents would know that their kids, who love to watch sports, could view safely.  Now how do I make that happen before my kid starts asking me about Erectile Dysfunction?

*** Oh, and as another aside, "Viagra" doesn't even come up on spell check because apparently it is so well known that it is in dictionary! 

Comments

[Luca]

May08Bibek Sharma Shristi Shrestha is a British Passport holder who won Miss Nepal 2012. She shuold have been denied to take part in the competition. Sadly, she won the match. Those who left the country for their own sake and adopted foreign passport are not the nation lovers. How could they be crowned?

[Kyla]

OMG! That is so, sooooo funny!

[Laura]

Yeah..........you're back! Glad you to see your blogging again :) This post reminded me of a few years ago when Cialas first came on the market. Dallas and I were watching TV and the commercial says: "So ask yourself, is Cialas right for you?" Dallas turns to me and says: "Mommy, is Cialas right for me?" It was funny but I know what you mean about these embarrassing/inappropriate intrusions!

[Jordan]

I was bothered by this during the Superbowl the other night. The kids rarely see sports but I definitely prefer them to be on DVR so the ads can be skipped -- but half the fun of the Superbowl is (I'm told) the ads, and I get that...but my god, so many of them were totally inappropriate for the kids. YUCK.

[the weirdgirl]

My husband's favorite is the commercial for the affair hookup service. Their tag is "When leaving isn't an option"! It just blows him away every time. And they don't show it on ESPN (which he watches religiously), it's played on one of the conservative news stations!! I mean, that doesn't even make sense to me.

[Terry]

It's all about the money...
Perhaps if Farmers had a huge budget, then they might be able to advertise carrots, or apples or spinach.

may cause: an overall feeling of good health, shortness of fatigue and regularity.

[MommyWithAnAttitude]

Too funny! Another reason I can be glad we are rarely able to get tv reception!

[slouchy]

That's great. He's paying attention. I could see my 8 doing that.

[nanakat]

Scott doesn't miss a trick. It's the joy and the anxiety that comes with having such an alert, bright little boy. Of course, I think he's brilliant ... but you know that already. :o)

What I experienced this past weekend is Scott the loving and caring person - a sensitive grandchild all wrapped up in Nana's arms with lots of hugs and kisses to give and get.

He is just that special.

[Cyndi]

SO TRUE!!!!! I've been complaining about this to Sean for a long time. Those commercials are also big on the national news. Ugh! Maybe I should just mute all the commercials...

[lora]

My kid too with the ED side effects. I swear the ad execs think the only people who are watching sports are the dudes who aren't able to get laid anymore.

They forget that now that they aren't getting any, they are spending quality time with the families they made when they could...

[magpie]

My child has told me to buy OxyClean, among other things.

The only sports I watch is figure skating, and I usually DVR it so we don't have to watch any ads...

[Patty]

Oh boy, that is funny, though I can see how it might not be if it were my kid quoting Viagra commercials. It's sad when we have to watch out what commercials our kids are watching, not just what shows...

[goodfountain]

Oh dear! Ha ha ha. I do believe that explaining ED should fall squarely on the Dad's shoulders. I'm just saying...

[JoyMama]

Oh my, this is a huge pet peeve of mine! I remember being particularly upset at the level of violence in the ads during the Olympics broadcasts last time around. I want to be able to watch the Olympics with my kiddos...

[Inthefastlane]

I sooooo agree! Maybe we should start and email campaign?

[Niksmom]

Hysterical post! But I get what you mean about all the commercials. It makes me grateful that Nik is not yet "into" TV. Well, mostly bc he'd break it by trying to take it apart...

[Stimey]

You make an excellent point. All those commercials bug me too when we're watching sports, especially when I see my kids watching so attentively.

[pixiemama]

We don't watch sports with the kids, but I know what you mean - the pharmaceutical commercials where the narrator spends HALF the commercial listing the side effects. SO CREEPY!