Doggy Daycare

The babies were a handful
So when the nanny quit
Their parents realized
A dog can babysit!

Just saw this ad for second time on Nick Jr. First time I really paid attention to it though. The first time it came up I thought, "Huh? What?" So this time I listened. And my reaction was,

WHAT?

ARE THEY CRAZY?

WE ARE NOT EVER BUYING THAT! NOT IN A MILLION YEARS WILL WE BUY THAT! NOT IF CHILDREN DROP DEAD AT MY FEET FROM WANTING IT WILL WE BUY THAT!

I know it's a toy for children. I know it's not real, it's only a imaginative flight of fancy. I even know there is a long tradition of dog-as-nanny in children's literature. (Classic example - Peter Pan.) But. Still. I am just having a complete gut-level rejection response to this toy.

I think it's the jingle. "Hey, these kids are out of control! An adult person can't handle them, so let's abandon them to the family pet! Because we don't care! Because we are bad parents that regard our children as a nuisance to be dumped off on the closest available living organism!"

There's probably something all deeply psychological and subconscious in my reaction. I have no idea what and I don't feel inclined to analyze it. I just hate the toy. So there. Pppbbttt.

(If you haven't seen the ad, the toy appears to be a boxed set of dogs, babies, various cradles, swingsets, etc., and a DVD with a cartoon detailing the background story.)