Father files - Ayele & the ads

Mel Cooke, Contributor

If I have such a thing as a philosophy of parenting, one of its strongest tenets is no television at home. I do not live in a world unto my own, so the best I have been able to get to at this point is no cable. So there are four channels on the 20-inch curved screen in the yard - CVM, TVJ (fuzzy), Love TV and off. Pick your choice children, the whole a dem nice.

Of course, this does not mean that there is no audio-visual stimulation. But putting in a DVD or watching something on the Internet involves a level of deliberate choice and consumption process far different from being able to stop in front of a box any time of day or night and tune in to largely fantasies of happiness through materialism.

So the TV is mostly off. But during the recent summer Olympics in London, it was mostly on. And that is where Ayele-Ali really got into his ad phase. Because you know how it goes in Jamaica - an ad is often a mini-musical, set to a dancehall beat. And there are no prizes for guessing which ad really hooked him - the one that was played most and was the strongest dancehall song of the bunch.

Did someone say "real big man no ride widdout condom?" Yup, it was Konshens' rubber riddim riding that had Ayele rushing to the TV every time, standing a few inches from that curved screen, his eyes glowing, few teeth showing, left foot planted and right leg extended, stamping around in a circle. He almost always turned to the left, a mystery of revolution that will forever remain unsolved, because by the time he is old enough to tell us why he loves dancing like that those days of the circling skank will be long gone.

The contradiction of a 16-month old baby going ga-ga over a song advising men to be careful about sex is not lost on me, but he will be getting the talk about sex from me earlier than he can get it from someone else - female or male. Because another part of the parenting philosophy (if I have one) is that discussions of sex and relationships between males and females should not be a mystery and taboo between parents and children, male or female. That is when some shady 'uncles' and 'aunties' and children who have been socialised by the 'Clap Dat' video step in and all hell breaks loose.

That advert featuring Konshens is not the only one that has got Yele's attention. There is also the Digicel Gimme Five. KFC is another favourite - not all of the ads, but the last part when the people sing "so good with KFC". (Has he ever had KFC in his life? I doubt it. Sure and heck he has not got it from I n I - and never will).

Singing is not the advert style that gets Yele going. He has a thing for Delcita saying "World Net have a loan for everybody!" As for the lottery draw, as long as he is awake he does not miss it. One problem, though - no matter which number pops up and runs down the chute he almost always hollers out "nine!".

Oh, another favourite ad is Zentel worm medicine. Make him gwaan til it reach him one day. Heh heh.

I have seen first-hand how babies react to music before, with the two bigger A sisters, but experiencing it all over again with Yele is a joy. I am convinced that this boy will be a regular resident of dancehall ("Why am I not surprised?" W said, with a sniff) much sooner than later. From sitting in the baby seat and rocking to the radio, his right hand extended with index finger pointing, to doing the same hand motion while standing, diapers waggling, the boy is a regular music fanatic.

So how shall we channel this? Time will tell, time will tell.