I've always felt that there were two types of households you could be raised in.

One where you were given a limited amount of TV and computer time and you ate healthy snacks and your parents were always home and played with you and supervised everything you did.

The other, the one people usually pity, is where you watched lots of TV and ate Cheeto Puffs because your parents worked long hours and were barely ever home.

I like to joke that I was raised by Josh Peck and Amanda Bynes. I remember my neighbor's mom was a homemaker and when we were kids, I was jealous. I wanted my mom to always be home too. Looking back, it was probably better that she wasn't.

As children, my brother and I would watch TV together, play computer games, and eat bologna with ketchup. It was actually a pretty good life. All of our imaginary friends were from TV shows. We would make new episodes and include ourselves in them and act them out. We would watch Beetlejuice and memorize the dance, then go outside and draw a door on the sidewalk, hoping that after knocking three times, one day it would finally open.

Because of the freedom my brother and I were given, we grew up to be very independent and creative. We both have a sense of humor and even though we aren't incredibly smart, we take care of ourselves and we know how to get what we want.

I remember once my cousin telling me that she wasn't allowed to watch SpongeBob because studies showed it made kids stupid. My only thought was that it must be a sad life to live without watching SpongeBob.

To this day, I still laugh at the thoughts I had as a kid. All those thoughts and jokes were just what I learned from watching TV. And maybe if my mom had stayed home or we had been sent to a daycare, we would be really smart and polite, but instead, we are charming and authentic and if I could go back, I wouldn't have changed a thing.