How do you explain parody to a six-year-old? The other evening, with Ava and Jesse in the room, we turned on our DVR’ed episode of “Saturday Night Live,” prepared to fast-forward through the blue parts. When we saw this spot-on parody of Miley Cyrus, we laughed uncontrollably. But Ava wasn’t amused. She loves Miley Cyrus – I just bought her a Hannah Montana mask for Halloween, after she resisted my efforts to steer her toward the kitty cat ears and tail — and she did not enjoy seeing her heroine besmirched. “You’re not supposed to tease,” she said.

On the positive side, this means she has internalized our messages about why she shouldn’t act like the kids on “iCarly.”  Still, I’m not sure she fully understood when we explained that Miley herself might not have minded this.  And I’m a wee bit worried that she now thinks Mommy and Daddy are meanies. Poor Miley!