Offensive Things Said

My daughter had her first birthday party last weekend. A few minutes ago I was playing with one of her new toys and it says to me "I love you."

My vision went almost completely white. My wife and I love my daughter. The thought of hearing some cutesy cartoon recording of a voice from an inanimate object produced by a multinational corporation uttering those words to my daughter fills me with rage.

I want to find the person or group of people who made the decision that it would be a good idea to try to usurp our daughter's emotions and to dilute the sanctity of love between a child and her parents. Then again, no I don't. I have a pretty good idea of what they are - the contact would just be an unpleasant experience with no real gain.

So what to do? The toy is great in all other ways. It teaches body parts, colors and other things. It seems like pulling the batteries would be counter-productive. Our daughter is way too young for one of those "The More You Know (tm)" moments; I don't have an opportunity to teach her some of my moral values. On the other hand is it really worth making a stand on something that is more Trojan bug than horse?

I'll sleep on it.