The Pop Culture Pass Down

The Pop Culture Pass Down

These days, parents have it easy. Stop laughing. I just mean we have it easy when it comes to introducing our kids to our favorite shows and movies.

I don’t have a lot to pass down to my son. There’s my sense of humor, my inexplicable collection of Garfield books (the same seven jokes reprinted over and over for 40 years = PRICELESS), and a complete and utter inability to build or fix things.

But I do have opinions, and many of them center around pop culture: Superman is better than Batman; Die Hard is the best action movie ever made; “The Wire” is required watching; Han shot first; etc., etc.

You better believe I’ll be passing those down.

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11 Ways Parenting is Like Watching “Game of Thrones”

11 Ways Parenting is Like Watching “Game of Thrones”

Last night, another season of “Game of Thrones” ended in bloody, punishing, somewhat dispiriting fashion. (Don’t worry, no spoilers here!) Of course, it’s nothing you’re not used to already if you’re a fan of the show.

Or if you’re a parent.

I’m not crazy enough to suggest that the experience of raising children is anywhere near as savage – or as sexy! – as the world of Westeros. But I am crazy enough to suggest that the experience of watching what may be the most popular show in the world has a lot of things in common with parenting.

Eleven things, to be precise…

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Fun with Discipline

Fun with Discipline

Disciplining your children can be hard. But with the right attitude, disciplining your children can be a laugh riot!

I love putting my son in time-out, not letting him stay up any later, taking things away from him. Not food or shelter or love (I’m an asshole, not a psychopath!), but toys, and TV, and the other little perks of childhood. I don’t do it to instill values or help make him appreciate what he already has. I don’t even do it because he’s so spoiled already that it serves as a nice change of pace.

While those benefits are all well and good, I like depriving my son of the things he wants because it’s funny and it makes me feel better.

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Stuff Kids Love to Interrupt

Stuff Kids Love to Interrupt

Every time my wife and I show each other any kind of affection, Detective Munch comes bombing over to get in on the action.

He’s like Pepé Le Pew, if Pepé Le Pew were into incestuous threesomes. (Which: probably?)

He’s always butting in! I literally don’t remember what it’s like to have time alone.

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A Spoonful of Television

A Spoonful of Television

Last week, I wrote about my son’s need to use a nebulizer when his chest gets congested – from his allergies or from a cold.

It’s not the sexiest rig in the world (unless you find Immortan Joe sexy, and if so: YOU’RE SCARING ME), and the first few times we had to put it to use, it was a little freaky. And he wasn’t a lot into it.

Luckily, we discovered that the length of a commercial-free TV show on Netflix matches almost perfectly with the length of the nebulizer treatment. Letting him watch a show while taking his medicine became a convenient solution.

At least, it was convenient, before my son got clued in.

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