I believe that future generations will ponder, and ask many important social, political and philosophical questions about our era. Did anyone in the administration ever believe that they were really looking for weapons of mass destruction? What are the long-term social benefits of corporate welfare? Does the electoral college best represent the concept of "democracy?" And perhaps, most importantly, "How did people engage in parenting activities before YouTube?"

I mean, when I need to motivate Liana to take a bath, I find some vintage Sesame Street videos of "Rubber Duckie" and we all sing along, clutching our own beloved rubber duckie. While mommy is preparing dinner and has Liana trapped in her high chair and securely out of trouble, what could be more fun that watching a bunch of videos of ABC songs? Madonna sings "The Wheels on the Bus?" Who knew? And it is even Liana's favorite version of that piece, after having listened to at least a dozen variations on YouTube. Time to try and get mellow as dinner is coming to an end and bedtime is approaching? How about some videos of dolphins! Liana loves vidoes of dolphins. And kittens. We love videos of kittens doing naughty things.

TV shows are way too long. Even Blue's Clues (which I love) and Dora and whatnot. But most YouTube segments seem to be about 3 minutes. And Liana loves to watch her favorites over and over again. Liana loves watching videos of Antigua, Guatemala, where she and I lived for two months. She gets all excited when the horses appear, but most of all she bounces enthusiastically whenever any Marimba appears in a video of Guatemala. Now I have to tell you, given the wild nightlife of Antigua, an evening of live Marimba, (and a glass of wine for mommy!) was great. But if I were to go the rest of my life without hearing Marimba again, I would not feel that I had missed out on anything. If it were not for Marimba appearing over and over again on YouTube videos of Guatemala, I would have completely forgotten how excited she gets by Marimba, and honestly, Marimba would not have continued to be a part of our lives.

So how did parents do it before YouTube?