Pancakes on Saturday

Today we followed a family tradition and enjoyed pancakes on Saturday. Our generational twist is that we make banana pancakes (with slices added to each pancake). Lola, however, takes her pancakes "neat." (If "neat" is what you call them when they are drenched with syrup.) Lola really likes the cartoon "Spongebob." I'm not a huge fan. Unlike some of the better cartoons, which depict simple human (or anthropomorphized animal) characters and thus convey simple lessons about nice and naughty behavior, Spongebob has no human characters and is written for adults. The Spongebob characters say things like "that big fat meanie," which is funny to adults as a cliche of childish speech. However, I don't want Lola to think it's acceptable to call someone "fat" to another person as a way of demeaning him or her. Most adults (including myself) will offer up this kind of insult in moments of weakness, but this tendency shouldn't be treated as funny and normal. Josh says he's not a "Spongebigot" and has no problem with Lola watching "Spongebob." I'm not going to try to stop her from seeing it, since she only catches it every once in a while, but when she gets a little older I will try to expose her to other, better (yet still funny) sources of entertainment.--K