"I learned it from Sponge Bob."

Okay, so I do let my kids watch TV. I truly think there are a lot of great educational shows out there that are also fun to watch. I know my kids pick up lessons from them, whether it be letters, shapes, colors, etc... But I never expected my daughter to learn something from Sponge Bob.

Now, I am not a fan of Bobby. I remember years ago when it first came out, I was childless at the time. A coworker was telling me about it. I was like, "Seriously, a show about a talking kitchen sponge?" I'd seen it a few times after that and the voice just grated at my ear drums. So when my daughter was born, I swore, no Sponge Bob.

But it's been almost 8 years since her birth, and I don't know, maybe I'm worn down. Maybe I've decided it's more important to hold my ground on more important topics. But she is now allowed to watch it.

Yesterday we were driving in the car and my daughter asked if we can regrow fingers if they get cut off. I think this came from a few days before when I told her she had to wear gloves or she would get frostbite and if it was bad, they'd have to amputate her fingers (I am not above worst case scenario stories if it helps keep her gloves on!) So we said no, that only some animals can regrow limbs, like a lizard's tail. She then tells us that lizards can only regrow their tails if just the tip is cut off, not the whole thing. I then told her that I thought starfish could regrow their arms if one is cut off. She says "Oh, yeah, they can. Patrick (from Sponge Bob) got his arm cut off and he grew a new one."

Okay...so maybe she is learning something from Sponge Bob.

She continued, "And his arm grew a new body!"

Well, it can't be all educational, I guess.

I look back at the silly stuff I watched as a kid- You Can't Do That on Television, Ren and Stimpy, Smurfs...etc. There was nothing educational about those shows and I grew up to be a normal, well-educated member of society.