The Many Virtues of SpongeBob

Like many children, my 9-year-old son watches the Nickelodeon television show, Spongebob Squarepants, with an obsession that often borders on cultism. Spongebob is a recurring theme in his peer conversations, and he owns an obscene amount of Spongebob merchandise. By far, his favorite possessions are his room decorations. I strongly suspect that if he were left to his own devices, our entire house would be decorated in Spongebob paraphernelia.

Case in point: every couple of years, I go shopping to redecorate our bathroom. Recently, I was eyeing various matched bathroom sets at Target, ruminating on the possibilities. I was leaning to the tasteful geometric pastels. My son, however had other ideas: "Can't we get Spongebob stuff instead?" He pointed helpfully to the entire aisle of Spongebob-themed bathroom decor.

I cringed, because what kind of mother am I, to allow her little one to be so enamored of something so loud, so coarse, so seemingly obnoxious? The plots were so silly. The characters were so extreme, and the humor was either absurd or obsessed with bodily functions (which, of course, is why my 9-year-old boy loves it). There must be something more wholesome to watch.

Gritting my teeth, I gently replied, "No, honey, Mommy doesn't want to see Spongebob all over the bathroom."

And my son, flabbergasted, said, "Why not, Mom? Spongebob is nice."

And you know what? I've come to realize he was totally right. Spongebob is nice. The more I thought about it, the more I found to admire and like about Spongebob Squarepants. In fact, I've decided he is an awesome role model for children today. Maybe not just for kids - the world might be a better place if more people acted like Spongebob. Here are eight reasons why.