Educators Against Elmo

I'm thinking of starting a club.  I started thinking I'd call it "Mothers Against Elmo", but that didn't include the dads.  So, then I thought "Parents Against Elmo", but that left out other educators and people in children's lives.

So, I think I'm going to call it "Educators Against Elmo".

Why should I despise Elmo so much?

Yes, Elmo.



Well!

I guess it started during the Tickle Me Elmo era.  Something that iconic and "must have" isn't a good thing- ever.  Now, Elmo's a big star.  He's got his own show separate from Sesame Street.

Only Kermit has been able to achieve that standing with the Muppet Show, I don't think that Grover-killing Elmo really fits the bill.  (Yes, Elmo killed Grover- does anyone even remember lovable Grover? The blue monster who sounded a lot like Fozzy Bear?)  Well, this isn't an issue yet, because we don't let our daughter watch TV.

But I think that the deciding factor for hating Elmo came after my daughter received a couple of books from my in-laws starring Elmo.  My little bookworm made us read them to her immediately....

...and me was appalled by what me readed in the grammar.

HOW CAN AN EDUCATIONAL ICON LIKE ELMO HAVE GRAMMAR LIKE RIDICULED JAR-JAR BINKS?

The book was only distilling a couple of examples of how Elmo speaks, but I realized when I read it to my daughter that it IS how Elmo ALWAYS speaks.  Cookie Monster had poor grammar, as well, but he was not on all the time and everyone KNEW that he was "dumb".  How can we continue to let our children watch "educational" programming and read "educational" books that are TEACHING THEM THE WRONG THINGS!?!

And THAT is what made me come up with the idea for Educators Against Elmo.

...and we're donating the books.