My oldest daughter is 22. I put in a lot of hours watching Barney, Sharon, Lois and Bram (it’s a Canadian thing), memorizing all the books of Guelph’s own Robert Munsch (who can resist the sentimentalism of, Love You Forever), and renting bad Disney movies from the video store around the corner.

That seems quaint, given that I settled the 1-year-old in the car the other weekend by holding the iPod touch so she could see it in her car seat with Beauty and the Beast playing.

Up until a few months ago, I didn’t even know Barney was still on the air.

But here I am, doing all the bad children’s TV thing again. Sorenne perks up when the Barney music comes on, but still prefers Stephen Colbert.

There’s a 7-year-old kid on Barney who has totally co-opted my look – shorts, high-cut Cons, and shaggy Andy Samberg hair.

Maybe it’s time for a new look.

Handy Manny, one of Sorenne’s favs, had extensive handwashing instructions this morning. Most of the kid’s shows do. Handy Manny is also culturally sensitive and mixes things up with English and Spanish.

I can’t wait ‘till Sorenne can respond to a survey asking her about the effectiveness of the handwashing message.