When you have kids, many things change, including what you watch on TV. Usually, the first thing that happens is you, as the parent, start watching less of it because you simply don’t have the time or energy. Later, you may find yourself watching more of it as you settle into a routine where you can sit with your baby, feeding them or getting them to sleep, giving you a chance to relax – unless they prefer to be rocked, and, in that case, I hope you have a rocking chair.

But eventually, whether by your choice or not, your kids will start watching television. According to various experts, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, kids under the age of 2 should not watch any TV at all. Already, many of us are guffawing, shaking our heads at the odds that we’d be able to keep the TV off given the difficulty of corralling our babies and toddlers and busy lives. But some of us try and have had some success at this. However, when the kids are in the hands of other caregivers, the control over things like this slip away, and eventually they’re singing songs from “Sesame Street” and recognizing cartoon characters in the toy store.

I remember watching “Sesame Street” as a kid, and I was a big fan of the Count, Bert and Ernie, and game show host Guy Smiley. But my oldest boy, Jack, really focused on Elmo, as I assume a lot of kids these days have, given the fact Elmo has his own show within a show, “Elmo’s World,” and by the ratio of Elmo merchandise to other characters. But “Sesame Street” remains very much the same as I remember: calm and cool, with funny little characters running around with nice human friends. There’s letters and numbers and words and sounds, shapes and colors and Spanish and the Alphabet – everything a little kid ought to see (if they’re going to be watching).

After “Sesame Street,” Jack moved onto shows for older kids, such as “Thomas the Tank Engine,” “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” “Little Einsteins,” and most recently “Dora the Explorer” and Go Diego Go!” Each show has its own style, cast of characters, lessons to teach, and certainly its own quirks. They also (mostly) all come with their merchandise, toys, clothing lines, and related media. There is certainly no racket – err, I mean, thriving business – like kids entertainment.

But the most ironic – or wicked – part of it all is that you, the parent, often end up watching these shows too. You don’t watch out of the hope to be entertained (though it does happen from time to time), but more to keep watch on things, and make sure these shows are as innocuous as they seem to be. Then, suddenly, before you know it, you know all the names of the trains on Sodor, how to make Mickey’s clubhouse appear, and how to stop Swiper from swiping.

And that’s not so bad.

In the end, if your kids are watching these shows, nobody says you have to like them too, but you do need to trust them (and if you don’t trust the shows, they need to be shut off). You need to be vigilant as a parent about the outside forces affecting your kids, and while you can’t watch everything, you can control the DVR or the DVD player or the computer. You can manage that playlist of media, set some guidelines, and explain why they can and cannot watch things. And the more you believe in what they consume, the better you’ll feel about them and yourself.

As a parent of little kids, I only have a piece of the whole “TV watching” experience, so I’d love the perspective of some dads of older kids. Feel free to comment!