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Elmo: All this fuss over a toy.

© Wayne Dawe

(Note: The Internet is a dynmaic place and web sites can come and go quite quickly. This is one of my older and some of the links may not work anymore. If you find that this is the case I invite you to look at some of my more recent articles. My links section has my favorite links from past articles and is checked regularly for non working links. Wayne)

Now that the paper is torn off and thrown away, the toys pitched on the big pile with the ones from years before I must comment on the great Elmo fiasco of this Christmas. Is this what Christmas has come to, parents fighting over toys? I am as big a Sesame Street fan as anybody, Sesame Street has helped my four year old learn his numbers, letters and how to read but all this fuss over a stuffed puppet? It seems that every year we go through this "toy that parents must have for their kids" routine. The big Elmo caper seems to be particularly suspicious. It appears that Rosie O'Donnell was instrumental in fanning the flames. I don't know about your kids but mine certainly don't watch Rosie O'Donnell. I suspect most of this craziness is caused by parental guilt or just the overcompetitiveness of people in North America. Before Christmas my 4 year old asked for Sonic the Hedgehog, that's one of the curses of having children who read catalogs. I told him that he couldn't have one because he already has a computer he could use. Five minutes later he had forgotten all about it and was playing with some blocks with his brother. The blocks he was playing with were simple, plastic and three years old. I have a feeling that three years after receiving Tickle Me Elmo he wouldn't have the slightest interest in his expensive toy.

I have a problem with expensive toys with poor play value, is tickle me Elmo any more interesting in the long term than the inexpensive teddy bear? The talking Barney doll my kids received two years ago is gathering dust while the stuffed dinosaurs that I bought for 1/6th price still go to bed with them every night (their choice, not mine).

Parents who really want to get good value for their money should buy their kids a Sesame Street book or pop over to the Children's Television Workshop website and let them play the interactive Elmo storybook. The page also includes downloadable pictures to colour in for both letters and numbers and some helpful parenting tips for moms and dads. For more Sesame Street information, sound clips, pictures and Sesame Street (and

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