When my daughter was about 6 months old we were in a Target wandering toward the checkout when suddenly she saw something that really excited her. I looked in the same direction and was horrified to see a giant Hanna Montana head smiling and sparkling from one of those hanging poster boards.
To be sure, I took her over to the area and held her in front of various items, hoping to to find out the reaction was to a hello kitty backpack or such. Then I held her up to the poster. She was overjoyed, and I began to despair. How can we fight advertising that works on a six-month old?
[Several months go by]
A few days ago, while visiting relatives, we met a little girl who proudly told us she was four years old and proceeded to run about entertaining herself. We were all just innocently sitting around talking and having a good time, and then, out of the blue, that little girl ran right up to me, smiled, and said “Hanna Montana” just like she would have said “Boo!”
I stared, disbelieving. “What did you say?”
“Hanna Montana!” she said, confident she had hit her mark.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means I’m going to be a rock star!” she said as she skipped away.
I’m starting to get a wee bit frightened.
