Peter The Tank Engine

Meet Thomas, Peter’s new obsession. Thomas has been around for a long time, but Peter hasn’t, so it’s all very new and exciting to him. A day or so ago I would have thought “obsession” was a strong word for Peter’s interest, but last night he wouldn’t sit in his high chair for dinner without having his Thomas toy with him (and then he fed it, too) and he also refused to let go of the toy when being put to bed. At least 20 times a day, Peter will hum the “toot-toot” whistle noise that plays during the Thomas videos, usually when he’s playing with one of his many train toys.

His Granny got him a couple DVDs of Thomas for Christmas, and it’s fair to say that he likes them a lot. He knows where they are most of the time, and will emphatically ask for them whenever the mood suits him. I know it will probably pass, but the DVDs just cycle through about 6 stories repeatedly, so if you leave it playing it could literally loop the stories over and over until we lose power to the house. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but since it’s a kids’ video it has nice little sing-along songs for the kids to join in on the merriment. Kids’ songs that, if played over and over even just a few times, get lodged in a Dad’s head much like a stalactite dropping from a cavern’s ceiling, piercing the unsuspecting visitor’s cranium. Those songs are also sung by British kids, even when everything else is dubbed by American voices. I’m expecting The Boy to start emulating those kids and speaking like a little Nigel instead of Peter. He’ll probably be using British usage of the language, too, like saying he’s “cross” instead of angry. Then he’ll want all his food boiled to within an inch of total blandness. And kippers. He’ll want them, too.

And did I mention he has a Thomas toothbrush, too? Plays music, 2 minutes worth. And you can’t shut it off.

I don’t want to sound like I don’t like Thomas, I do. It’s a nice little entertainment for kids that doesn’t involve glamorized violence or overt marketing (buuut, if you need some merchandise…). There is, however, and inverted dosing scale that needs to be adhered to, whereby the bigger you are, the smaller your healthy allowance is. Peter, small guy that he is, can take a whole day’s worth of looping Thomas stories and suffer no ill effects. Me being a big guy, I start twitching uncontrollably after an hour.

Now, as parents, we will keep an eye open at all times for anything Thomas, so that we can lavish him with all the Thomasalia he could ever want. And then, when we hit critical mass, he will turn his back on Thomas and all the tons of stuff we got him. I understand how the game is played. Toot-toot.