Scooby-Doo, my friends.

More precisely, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. I don’t know how many times I’ve sat through this 2004 masterpiece of children’s cinema trying to muster a chuckle, the laughs being few and far between, though I realize I’m not the intended audience. Moreover, I was never a huge fan of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon or its countless incarnations, like 1979’s Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. (Worst. Idea. Ever.) For Saturday morning viewing pleasures I wanted superheroes, not goofy teenagers and a pseudo talking dog. However, my son, Jacob, fell in love with Scooby-Doo at an early age, which meant having to sit through Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed over and over (and over) again. Now, before you question the number of hours my wife and I allow our kids to watch television, I need to do some explaining.

Jacob’s cystic fibrosis breathing treatments (his “breathers,” as we call them) involve using a nebulizer machine, which blows a misted medicine into his lungs, and a device called the Vest, which wraps around his chest and is connected to two long tubes that insert into a machine. The machine pumps air into the Vest and vibrates against Jacob’s chest. This percussive treatment is done to break up any of the sticky mucus that builds up in his lungs (a result of the disease).

If you’ve checked out Jacob’s Great Strides Video, you’ll see pictures of him doing his breathers. These treatments are vital in keeping him healthy, but they’re uncomfortable and often boring. When he first did his breathers, he didn’t wear the nebulizer mask around his head, as he does in the video. Originally, Julie or I sat with him, holding the mask to his face, but as he’s gotten more independent, he doesn’t require us to hold the mask anymore. These sessions occur twice a day and last at least 20 minutes. To help keep him relaxed, we let him watch television.

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