Keep YouTube to Yourself

When my dad was young, he loved a cartoon called The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show. It was about a kid who spoke in sound effects. Or something. I don’t know, because I was born in 1974, and my father couldn’t just pull an episode up on YouTube. My son enjoys no such freedom. At any minute, I can call up some dimly remembered jewel from my youth. “C is for Cookie.” Zoom. The opening credits from the short-lived Pac-Man cartoon. Small. Freaking. Wonder! I can, but I don’t. And neither should you. Your children are not some excuse to relive your own misbegotten youth. They have to explore the world for themselves, and they have access to everything from Yo Gabba Gabba to some dude’s home video of his safari vacation. Don’t squander that by force-feeding your kids old G.I. Joe PSAs.