We hear all the time how much "crap" there is on television, don't we? We hear it, of course, because it's true! But, with all the umpteen hundred channels you can get with cable service these days, there are a lot of good shows too.

There's a lot more crap on television these days and there's a lot more quality too. Hi-5, in my opinion, falls in the "quality" category.

To me, the fun music is incidental. More in the way of icing for the cake. What I like about the show is that, during their skits, they are teaching things that are important for young kids to know.

What can I say, I'm no expert. My college and grad psychology degrees were both oriented towards adult learning, and my speciality is corporate education programs and services. But I do know this, my most important title is "Daddy," and I now have almost five years of hands-on experience in early childhood development. The one thing I understand clearly about this period of their lives is that I want them to learn the right standards of behavior as soon as possible, before they have too many opportunities to see the wrong standards in action.

I want them to know how to play with other kids, talk to other kids and treat other kids. Before too long, they are going to see how they should not do all those things and, when that happens, I want them to be able to say to themselves, "that's not how you do that."

Hi-5 is one of those shows that teaches the right standards of behavior. Which is why I'll happily pack them all into our van and drive them 30 miles into Baltimore or DC (playing a Hi-5 CD or DVD on the way, of course) to see their favorite show live.

Watching the cast in action yesterday, I saw that they really do work very hard during their show. They were the ones moving their stage pieces around between various songs and skits. And sound problems right at the beginning of the show made it clear that they were not pulling an "Ashlee Simpson" on us either. They work pretty hard and they seem to lean on their own talent rather than technology. Also good lessons for my kids to learn.

After the show, because we happen to know "the secret fort club handshake," my wife was able to get us invited to the VIP lounge to see the cast. Not that we were alone. As a matter of fact, there were at least a hundred others who were eager to have their kids meet the cast as well.