When I was a little guy, I used to wake up early on Saturday mornings and race down to the den so I could watch Saturday morning cartoons. That was the best time for television, with the only problem being that we didn’t have a remote control, so we couldn’t flip between the different cartoons that were on.

Over the years, Saturday morning cartoons changed pretty drastically. They went from being widely varied (from Bugs Bunny to Speed Racer to Thundarr the Barbarian) to being toy commercials (Transformers, GI Joe, He-Man) to being non-existent.

Now there are very few Saturday morning cartoons, and those are are either educational and aimed at really young kids (ala Dinosaur Train) or just plain out not worth watching (Yu-Gi-Oh or Cubix).

I’m still like Saturday morning cartoons, though.

Most Saturdays, I fire up NetFlix and flip through my list (Batman the Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, Ultimate Spiderman, etc.), or dig out some DVDs (often Thundercats, TailSpin, or Clone Wars).

A few years back, my kids discovered my Saturday morning routine. As soon as they wake up, they run to my room and jump onto the bed.

My wife usually leaves when they arrive, and the three of us settle in for an hour or so of cartoons before the weekend gets started.

It’s fun, but I don’t think it’s the same for them as it was for me. Part of my fun was discovery, of finding new cartoons in the gray hours before adults were awake.

This past Saturday morning was cold, so we bundled under the covers as we watched.

“Are you making cocoa?” my oldest son called out between episodes.

“Excuse me?” my wife said from the living room.

“Cause we could really use some cocoa,” he said, grinning at me.

“And waffles,” his little brother added. “It’s really nice of you to make us cocoa and waffles.”

“I don’t think so,” my wife called back.

“I wouldn’t mind an egg,” I said. “I mean, since you’re cooking breakfast and all.”

She appeared in the bedroom doorway, eyebrows arched, hands on hips.

Come to think of it, I don’t remember my mom ever making breakfast during Saturday morning cartoons, either.