This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

My son is an Elmo addict. He has Elmo clothes, Elmo books, and Elmo toys. He insists on listening to an Elmo CD whenever he rides in my car and watches the furry Muppet almost every day on "Sesame Street." Oh yeah, he calls his binky Elmo.

And you know what? This doesn't bother me.

Sesame Street, which has been on the air for about 40 years, is still a quality show. It teaches kids the alphabet, how to count and other important lessons in an entertaining manner. The show has some aspects of Saturday Night Live to it with clever bits like having Oscar the Grouch host something called the "Grouch News Network," which featured CNN's Anderson Cooper.

I realize that his Elmo fascination won't last. My son recently discovered Mickey Mouse on one of Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) cable channels. Eventually, Mickey will give way to Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants on Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA) Nickelodeon.

Kids today are marketed in ways that would have been unthinkable when I was a kid. Sesame Street, which is no slouch in the merchandising department either, seems to stand for something more than just marketing merchandise to our youngest consumers. The for-profit media companies worry about shareholders and bottom lines as they should. But when it comes to kids, there need to be a higher standards.

To the mind of this parent, Elmo trumps Mickey and Dora and the rest of the them. Elmo, though, is lover not a fighter. He would say that there is room enough for everybody in a child's imagination and you know what, he's right.

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