Sesame Street has become a huge part of my life.

TL,DR: I watch a lot of Sesame Street with DD, and it's becoming a noticeable facet of my personality.I'm a SAHD to a one-year-old girl. We spend most of our time in our living room/kitchen area, which is totally baby proof, and filled with toys. She spends a lot of her time at home in unstructured play, just exploring and interacting with her environment. When I don't have something else to do, I'm usually on the floor with her, trying to teach her things like sharing, putting away, colors, shapes, whatever I can think of.And most of the time, Sesame Street will be on. HBO Now has a great backlog of episodes, and I just let them play one after another. Sometimes she watches, but most of the time it's just background noise. And I feel good about that, because at least it's educational background noise. Plus the characters have become a sort of anchor for her that I'm already using to teach her (she's on a feeding tube, and I use toys to help teach her how to eat. It's going well, but that's another post).Anyway, the upshot of this is that I passively watch a LOT of Sesame Street. It's kinda become a thing with me.And I don't mind, really. It's a thoughtful show with great ethics and philosophy behind it. And it's emotionally comforting. It depicts the kind of ideal world we should all aspire to. And it's really quite merciful to the parents, as kids' shows go. Other kids' shows are so GODDAMN REPETITIVE, and filled with annoying elements. Sesame Street hardly ever irritates me. Maybe one song in ten is a real ear worm. And it's filled with references and parodies that kids would only half understand. So despite being 35, I genuinely enjoy Sesame Street.But when I'm around adults, I find Sesame Street creeping into conversations often enough that it's a little embarrassing. I mean, all our friends are parents, or trying to be parents, so nobody REALLY judges me, but I'd be surprised if one or two of them haven't thought "Boy, Pete and his Sesame Street! He likes that show more than his kid". I can't tell you how often someone will do or say something that reminds me of a character. I'll think things like "Oh, that is such an Ernie thing to say", lol.And another thing: when my daughter is relatively quiet and relaxed, I'll often look up bits of trivia about the show. I know A LOT about Sesame Street for an average adult. I know a lot of the writers' and actors' names, and other things they're involved in, different eras of the show and the creative minds that shaped them, historical context for individual episodes, etc. And I find myself talking about this stuff often. Mostly to my wife, but still.Anyway, I definitely don't regret or bemoan this situation. It's just funny. And I guess it's one of those weird things about parenting. If I'm gonna have a kid's show working its way into my brain, I'm glad it's at least a show I admire.Thoughts or feelings about Sesame Street, or kids' shows in general? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2Gzlugx