I love it!

What Now?

For me one of the greatest times of being a parent is discovering that your child shares the same love of certain things that you did when you were the same age. Now I will admit I have gone to great lengths to make sure my girls are exposed to lots of the things that I loved back then and for the most part still love today, but it is "mostly" their own personal choice on if they will like them as much as I did/do or not. So, for your reading pleasure I have compiled a list of some of those things...and they are:

1. Star Wars - For me the greatest movie ever made. Yes, the movies now have better special effects, better sound, and yes, even better writing, but...I have yet to see a movie that makes me feel the same way I did after watching Star Wars at the tender age of 6. My girls took to these movies instantly, and we watch all six of them together often. Now that Cartoon Network has introduced the Star Wars "The Clone Wars" TV series we can share brand new adventures from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

2. Legos - Legos were around a long time before I played with them and they will be around even longer after my girls have outgrown them. They are the perfect toy. You get to build a toy, play with the toy, take apart the toy, and repeat. That could be kid toy nirvana wrapped in cardboard. Now you can buy your legos in themes like....Star Wars. Are you kidding me? That is like sex and eating for adults!

3. School House Rock - Back in the day these great little cartoon shorts were wedged between your favorite Saturday morning programs to keep you from seeking fresh air and exercise. The good news was each episode was based on something educational, either history, math, gramme, money or science was cleverly disguised with catchy songs sung cool cartoon characters. The only way kids of today can see these classics is on VHS or DVD, which of course I have. The whole family has our favorites...mine is linked to the title. "Rockin' and a-rollin', splishin' and a-splashin', Over the horizon, what can it be"

4. The Banana Splits Show - I would run, fast...like cheetah fast, home from school in order to catch this show created by the fine folks at Hanna Barbera who also gave us such classics as The Flintstones, Jonny Quest and Hong Kong Phooey (God, was there anything better for kids television than Hanna Barbera? The answer would be NO!). Only because of the addition of Boomerang, the classic cartoon network, to the infinite list of cable channels can kids see this show (I don't even think it's on DVD...WHAT?). For some reason my wife thinks this show is mindless crap that is rotting our girls brains...so I make sure to pepper in a little School House Rock to even things out!

5. Disneyland - My family took lots of road trip vacations. I don't think I actually got to fly to a vacation destination until we took a trip to Hawaii my sophomore year in high school...and we only did it then for obvious reasons. Two of these trips were to the happiest place on earth, the magic kingdom...DISNEYLAND! As a parents we have already made that many trips ourselves and are planning another one this winter. I think you are either a Disneyland family or you are not and thank your Micky Mouse ears we are. If I had the same expressions tattooed on my face at that age that I see on my kids then I know how happy my parents were taking us there. What is great is riding on the same rides with my girls that I rode on with my parents and still feeling like I'm seven years old. Man I just love that place.

There are many, many others...but these are probably my top 5. Whenever you find connections like this with your children you build bonds that last a lifetime and at the same time relive your own childhood. Can it really get any better than that?

PEACE OUT DADS!