< sigh>

the superbowl. i've never understood the urge to remove oneself from mainstream american culture. until last night. i know the baby's not born yet, but i'm considering putting electrical tape over his/her eyes...or at least taking sledgehammer to the TV. but seriously, how do you balance being over-protective with not being restrictive enough? i watched Finding Nemo for the first time yesterday and i was struck that the overall message seemed to be that you should trust your parents, but that they might be really closed minded and protective too. (it was a must better movie, i thought, than 90% of the other disney stuff.) the "best" parent seemed to be a surfer/stoner giant sea turtle who basically worked off of a let-the-child-learn-by-experience parenting model. and the "happily ever after" solution was to keep living in the 'burbs (by the Great Dropoff) but to allow Nemo to go on some adventures with his school. i'm not sure how all of this connects, but i'd really like to hear from any parents (or non-parents) on how you determine what's worth getting involved in culturally and what to absolutely avoid. < /sigh>