Dream Lites and Other Commercials

Boy am I getting tired of commercials!  More specifically, I'm getting tired of my kids watching commercials and then asking for everything on TV.  In Chicago, we only had PBS for my kids' cartoons, which has very limited commercials and is mostly funded by viewers and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Here in Washington, they are watching all the channels that are saturated with junk-for-kids commercials.

For about a week my kids were begging for Dream Lites.  Dayton told me EVERYTHING about them that he learned from the commercial: they make stars on the ceiling, they stay on for 20 minutes, they have lots of colors, you must be 18 or older to order, and go to dreamlites.com.  My kids don't like being alone at night (some of my anxiety probably rubbed off on them), but Dayton promised me that if we got him a Dream Lite, he won't be scared at night anymore.  So Nana did some research and Dream Lites didn't have great reviews, so we found a similar product at Toys R Us that had great reviews (Cloud B) and Nana got one for each of the kids (but we still call them Dream Lites.) 

 Daphne chose a ladybug and Dayton chose a turtle

 Glowing Dream Lites

Stars on the ceiling

Thanking Nana with kisses!

The kids can sing the whole song from the commercial, so I need to record that sometime.  Did the Dream Lites eliminate night-time problems?  No.  Maybe the Dream Lites improved the situation by 10%, but only because I can threaten to take away the Dream Lites if they don't stop whining or fighting, and that threat occasionally works.  But they LOVE their Dream Lites and haven't slept without them for weeks.

Most other commercials also prompt begging.  Dayton wants Skechers spring shoes because they'll make him jump higher.  Daphne wants Moshi Monsters.  Dayton is in love with the New Pro Double X Razor Scooter (fortunately he thinks his Razor scooter is that same one.)  Sometimes the kids even want things for me from commercials- Dayton told me, "If you get a Swiffer, you won't have to go over the same spot over and over again.  And you can clean faster."  And the kids often sing to me, "Nationwide is on your side!"