The madness began a year ago. I got a call from my wife while I was at work that she and my two daughters (9 months and almost 4 at the time) were going to the mall to see this new group called "Hi-5." My wife, Julie, knew absolutely nothing about them.

My reply? "Have fun," I said with a slight smile. I hung up the phone and went back to work.

Then, almost two hours later, I received another call... I should have known then that I had a serious problem on my hands.

"We had so much fun," my wife told me. "They are great! We're staying for their second show."

This time, my reply was more along the lines of, "ummm... Okay, have fun." And, again, I hung up the phone and went back to work.

But when I got home from work that day, the new Hi-5 DVD was already in the player with my oldest daughter dancing around in the playroom. Julie was excited too; she really enjoyed the "concert" (how it went from a "show" to a "concert" I never quite grasped).

And, of course, we had it all written down that Hi-5 was on TV every morning, starting with the Discovery Channel at 7am and then The Learning Channel at 7:30am. And now, a year later, we've all just come from our first REAL Hi-5 concert in Baltimore, and the craze has both widened and deepened.

You know what? I don't mind. Even if my wife is every bit the crazed fan that my girls have become.

My 21-month old, who is still just learning to talk will walk up to me, put her hand up with her fingers spread and say, "hi!" Of course, that means she wants Hi-5 on the DVD player pronto. Sometimes I'll pretend not to understand. "Hello to you sweetie," I'll say with a big smile on my face.

She knows my game. She won't smile back, she'll just give me the Hi-5 sign again and repeat her "hi" request again and again until she gets what she wants.

I look at it this way, at least she's not asking for those damned Teletubbies! But I digress.

The fact is, I don't mind my whole family being crazed Hi-5 fans for a very simple reason; I like the show too. Not in the same way, of course. I don't sing along in the van and do all the motions when we're listening to "Living In A Rainbow," or something like that. I like the show because, as a father, I know that it's a good show.