I don’t have to care, of course, because she’s not got a lot of experts monitoring her development. I know it’s not comparable. But it might be helpful to know how we manage this: I tell her that some people might make fun of her for liking Elmo. Those people are fools, I add, but still, it’s her choice whether she wants to give them the chance to tease. It’s her choice whether she wants to tell others outside the house about watching Elmo.

Maybe that sounds like I encourage her to stay closeted about her tv tastes — but that’s not what I mean. I just encourage her to decide what she wants to deal with and who she wants to share with, when. I let her make the decisions we all make, really, when sharing out pop culture tastes. At least I hope so.