You can't control what children like. Sure, you can try to point them in a direction, but they have a mind of their own.

So if your child comes up to you one day and says, "I like Pokemon! Collect them all!", then by hell or high water, you're stuck with Pokemon in your life. There is no point in arguing, and pointing out how stupid the concept is, and how it's all designed to brainwash kids, and... it doesn't matter. You're now in the world of Pikachu and Baldasaur and Ash Ketchup and other characters you couldn't give a rat's ass about. (Sorry to say that, kid. We're the ones suffering here. Is picking up a book too much to ask?)

Well, three things one can do. One is to continue to bash it, making your child embrace it even more, leading them to rebel against you, run away from home, and spend the rest of their life as a Pokemon-loving hobo. That's not good.

Two is to embrace the hobby, try to share in your child's interest, and learn all about Pokemon. For example, this creature named Meowth, who's supposedly some kind of an evil cat, says "oy vey" from time to time. That's just lame.

Three is just to let it go and thank the stars that the child picked a relatively harmless hobby, as opposed to self-mutilation, pyromania, Christianity, or — G-d forbid — Dungeons & Dragons.

And no, this profile is not autobiographical at all. Yet.