Ahhh, cute.

As a relatively new mother, these hit a bit of a soft spot with me. They imply Mum and Bub as a little team, doing things together; baby replicating what Mum does, Mum creating a little miniature of herself. Of-course, the little potty with a newspaper beside it is more suggestive of a father’s involvement in his child’s development, after all, that’s what dad’s do, right?

A very cute ad, and very appealing. However, it makes all these things appear so necessary for your little one’s preparation for life. But who are these programs catering for? The yoga I understand – Mum’s want to regain a healthy shape, and what better way than to do yoga while lifting your baby?

But I have to ask: What baby needs a dance lesson, really? Why do our children need “early literacy” skills?

In the nature/nurture debate, I lean towards nature. Actually, I really lean towards the belief that nature will only accomodate nurture when it wants to: you can’t force it. And so it irritates me to see Mum’s and Dad’s out there desperate to have their first grade child reading at a third grade level. It bothers me to think that Mummy wants her little girl to be the child star she didn’t turn out to be, carting her off  to dance lessons twice a week.

Having said all this, after looking at the website for this center, it is  good to see such a thorough program for parent’s and parent’s to be. I have found that parental education is either totally over-the-top (“but Dr. Spock said only t o allow TEN minutes in the naughty corner”) or completely uninvolved (“you just stay there and watch Sesame Street while Mummy goes out for a smoke”). I have had trouble finding a happy medium as a mother myself; everybody tells you something different. This is why I think baby literacy programs and dance lessons just complicate what is already the most complicated occupation in existance.

This is why, while other babies are out learning how to respond verbally to cue cards and being bounced around a dance floor like a puppet, mine is at home peeing on the carpet and putting shoes on his head for a laugh. And boy, am I proud.

Advertising Agency: Doug agency, Toronto, Canada
Creative Director: Doug Robinson
Associate Creative Directors: Ian Schwey, Steffan Barry
Art Director: Solly Bulbulia
Copywriter: Andre Bell
Photographer: Stacey Brandford
Published: January 2009

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