Mother Talkers

Danger

by lyn

Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 11:11:26 AM PDT

Anyone seen the latest ad from Chuck E Cheese?  A careful mom wraps her helmeted kids in bubble wrap before cautiously escorting them to the sunny driveway to ride their bicycles.  The voice-over asks (paraphrase), "Looking for a safe and fun activity for your kids?  Bring them to Chuck E Cheese!"  Cut to the much happier, relaxed mom beaming as her kids safely enjoy the nice indoor video games in a noisy food-oriented environment.  No risky behaviors for her family!

Look at all the messages in this ad:  Fresh air, suburban neighborhood, physical activity - bad, dangerous!  Food, video games, enclosed indoor spaces - good, safe!  Consumerism, good!  "Where kids can be kids" - they can't really "be kids" in the neighborhood, that's no longer acceptable.  Perhaps most insidious is the implied judgment on the mom.  A good mom's first priority is her children's safety, which she must maximize by finding ways to keep them entertained indoors.  The good mom knows that no amount of freedom is safe.

Ah yes, Chuck E Cheese - where kids can be kids.  Because so much of what was once normal childhood has been stripped from our children that video games are the best we can do.

Tags: childhood, society, obesity (all tags)

Permalink | 15 comments

  • Safe? (0 / 0)

    I wonder what the risk of illness is after crawling through those tunnels and touching the video games that a million other kids are touching.

    Yuck to that.  

    By the way, my four year old has seen their ads - and we have been once, for a birthday party - and for some reason seems to think it's called "Chuckie Cheez-it."

    Katherine

    by pat of butter in a sea of grits on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 11:18:06 AM PDT

  • I hate this commercial! (0 / 0)

    My kids have been to CEC's twice in their lifetime, both times for someone else's birthday. I can understand that there might be times that it's a good, indoor place to play [like if it's been raining for several days on end, or some other bad weather for a long time] but I have no desire to take my kids there when they could be riding bikes outside, climbing trees, swinging in the tire swing, having a snack up in the fort, etc.

    Guess I don't have my kids safety at heart. Oh yeah, my son broke his leg playing on climbing equipment at recess! I'm a bad mom! Where's the bubble wrap?

    by Lisa in Austin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 11:47:03 AM PDT

    • You know, almost every time (0 / 0)

      one of my kids managed to get seriously hurt, I was sitting not more than a few feet away, looking right at them.  Clearly, I'm a terrible mother.

      by tjb22 on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 12:03:56 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    • broken bones (0 / 0)

      I was just saying to someone the other day, that it seemed that the whole time I was in elementary school, there was always someone with a cast.  It was cool -- they didn't have to do as much work and got special treatment, we got to sign the cast, etc.  

      By that logic, 1/50 kids had a cast at all times.  But I don't know when I last saw a kid in any sort of cast.  Must be the bubble wrap.  

      --R

      by Rocky on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 12:29:01 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • No doubt, we live in a society (0 / 0)

    in which people are titillated by the prospect of danger.  I suppose an argument can be made that this is the result of our having relatively few risks in our lives...we're acting out based on our biology.  

    by tjb22 on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 12:08:04 PM PDT

  • Hmmm.... (0 / 0)

    I can't remember the details (sad, because it was only a few weeks ago) but a child was either abducted or nearly abducted from the Chuck E. Cheese five minutes from my house.

    by Erin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 12:10:25 PM PDT

    • We just had an incident (0 / 0)

      ...at the Chuck E. Cheese near here where a teenager took a toddler into one of the games or rides and sexually assaulted the baby! Horrible. Guess it wasn't such a safe place to play that day.

      by Kay on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 12:45:34 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • Charles E. Fromage (0 / 0)

    I can't stand that place.

    We took our youngest there when she was two. Ten days later she was in the ER with pneumonia.

    I'm just sayin'...

    by sangfroid on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 12:58:55 PM PDT

  • I'm terrified of Chuckie Cheese (0 / 0)

    Luckily we've had no birthdays there yet but from what I can remember from when I was a kid it can't be safe for my peanut allergic children.  Do they still have those sundae bars with the peanuts out in the open?

    by music teacher on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 01:54:35 PM PDT

  • a woman I know (0 / 0)

    wrote an article for "Parents" or "Parenting" a few years ago about perceived v real dangers.  We always hear people saying, "These days, you can't be too careful," but what she found in poring over crime stats was that 1950 was actually more dangerous in certain respects for children.  Not just the carseat stuff, but child-directed crimes.  Kids are much safer today, overall.

    by mamacita on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 04:46:34 PM PDT

  • I loathe C E. C (0 / 0)

    We had to go two weeks ago for my niece's birthday.  Gus was kind of terrified!  All the noise and flashing lights sort of freaked him out.  He was interested, but clutching one of my arms.  It was a while before he was ready to go off with his aunt to investigate a ride.

    "where a kid can be a kid"...that is so lame!  Like that's the only place?  Like my kid can't be a kid anywhere else?  I'm boycotting the place.  But I'm probably lucky because DS has a summer birthday.  I anticipate a lot of letting him & his friends wrestle around in the backyard for a few hours and then overdosing on treats.

    by cynmill on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 08:00:13 PM PDT

  • You're SO Right (0 / 0)

    The commercial is absurd.

    by Uhura on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 06:16:18 AM PDT

  • but they serve beer! (0 / 0)

    just remembering going w/ some friends

    my friend mike was kind of dreading it, but he perked up when we got there and he realized he could drink- i still remember the look on his face.  "things are looking up!"

    by thankgodforairamerica on Sun Mar 23, 2008 at 04:06:30 PM PDT

Permalink | 15 comments