My parenting may be suspect

"As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those that would tear us apart, all will be well."

As any parent can tell you, it's not an easy job raising the next generation. It's often thankless and frustrating. Finding a medium to which you can bond with your oft times hormonal teen is challenging. No one ever said it was easy. Yeah. I know.

Raising a boy without a man in the house or in our lives is tricky. I won't break my arm patting myself on the back, but I think I've done fairly well. My son may not know how to throw a spiral or a curve ball. I rely upon his physical education teacher to help out in that area.

Mancub and I have managed to bond over movies, music and television programs. That's not to say I sit and watch TV non-stop. I threaten to leave the house when the Disney Channel is on. Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody push me to the brink of insanity. I thank God that That's So Raven doesn't seem to be on anymore. I now understand why shows like The Brady Bunch would drive my dad from the house.

I've introduced Mancub to many movies from my teen years. John Hughes classics like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Uncle Buck have given him insight to music and fashions of my youth. We've laughed plenty and sung along to oldies like Willy Wonka and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But nothing has given us more opportunity to laugh until our stomaches ache like the sci-fi goofiness of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Joel (Mike in later episodes) and his robot friends, Cam-bot, Gypsy, Tom Servo and Crooooooow are forced to watch really awful ... really cheesy terrible, bottom of the barrel movies as Dr. F monitors their reactions. What results is hilarious riffing. It really must be experienced to fully understand. Often, they are given film shorts prior to being tortured with the feature length film.

On a whim, I put one of the episodes on my Netflix queue. When it arrived, I explained the premise by reminding him how we often make jokes about a program we're watching. They call it riffing. Some people call it annoying. I call it awesome!

Ever since that initiation to MST3K, Mancub looks forward to a new arrival from Netflix. I look forward to it because it's 1.5 hrs that we have uninterrupted riotous laughter.






*gigglesnort* Enjoy the film short above -- and feel free to join in! To go beyond MST3K, visit RiffTrax! You'll thank me for helping you work your core without breaking a sweat or falling prey to late night infomercial gadgets.