Now that Mason is close to exiting the ‘toddler’ phase and is quickly approaching ‘little man’ designation, his interest in tv shows and their characters is increasing. While he’s at home, Treehouse TV is on quite a bit. I’m all for educational tv, I encourage it. For the record, Sesame Street taught me to tie my shoes and count to 10 in French. Funny enough, I will not let him watch Looney Toons or the majority of the shows I grew up with, they are just too violent. (You don't see Diego running around with a rifle in today's cartoons!)
Mason’s favorites include; Harry & his bucket full of dinosaurs, Mighty Machines, Rob the Robot, Rollie polie Ollie, Thomas the Train, Toupie & Binoo, Cat in the Hat, and a few others I can’t think of at the moment. We haven’t gone crazy and bought him many character related toys as I feel it's a bit crazy. Not to mention it buys into the marketing scheme they want you to buy into. Money is best spent elsewhere.
One thing I’ve been keeping an ear open for is public appearances by the characters. I skipped the Dora the Explorer show as he’s not too into Dora. So next was Thomas the Train in Squamish. I overlooked it because that’s quite a drive out there. Then I checked the ticket prices. $20.00 for a 20 min train ride for each person. The three of us is now $60.00 + food + gas = one expensive day. But we are going because my kid is worth it and I think he’d enjoy it. It’s a real train decorated as Thomas so I think that’s a good value and fun for all of us.
Next was the Wiggles in ‘concert’. Sure, Mason watches that sometimes. I went on Ticketmaster (figures) to see how much the tickets were…and almost had a heart attack! Cheapest seat is SEVENTY fricken dollars. This *must* be a typo. Surely they can’t be charging $70 for 4 grown Australian men to prance around singing songs catering to children. Ridiculous. Sorry Wiggles, you are over priced. I hope no one shows up. Oh and since that was the lowest price, I’ll share the highest price with you - $316 for orchestra seating.
Who can afford these prices? So now I’m a bit annoyed. I’d really like to take Mason to these kiddie events but not at the cost involved. I want to attend some 'women conferences' and have a hard time justifying $100 a ticket for an all day conference to something I will learn from.
Oh but it doesn’t stop there! I get an email stating that Elmo is coming to town. Surely Sesame Street won’t gouge it’s loyal viewers. Hello Ticketmaster, again. <Bracing myself>…$31.55 to $101 (not including taxes and fees of course). Sorry Elmo, you suck.
Hope Mason enjoys Thomas cause Mommy isn’t rich enough to attend the rest of these ‘child shows’.
Ridiculous, I say!