'Parenthood' thinks about the children

As NBC prepares for the series premiere of "Parenthood," the network has been tapping into both its star power and its viewer base in an initiative to support the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

"The Parenthood Project" solicited opinions from talent and fans on what parenthood means to them today. NBC pledged $20 to the Boys & Girls Clubs' Family Strengthening Initiative for each of the first 5,000 responses, and will be presenting a $100,000 check to the organization tonight at the show's premiere party at the Director's Guild.

Among the responses from viewers:

• "Parenthood is using your sleeve as a tissue."
• "Parenthood is when I asked my 3-year old daughter if she knew what day of the week came after Tuesday. She thought for a minute, then confidently responded, 'Threesday!'"
• "Parenthood is when I was in the bathroom, putting on my makeup, under the watchful eyes of my young granddaughter, as I'd done many times before. After I applied my lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, 'But Gramma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper goodbye!'"

In addition, some of NBC's primetime performers weighed in ...

Joel McHale, "Community": "Parenthood is when your 4-year-old walks up to you and goes, 'Dad, why are we connected to numbers?' And then you go ... 'I don't know,' and then your kid realizes his Dad is stupid."

Nick Offerman, "Parks and Recreation": "Parenthood is pullling off of Bell Road in the '67 Impala in a blizzard to show me what I was doing wrong in my defensive stance in the basketball game vs. Kankakee when I was 12 years old. I have never since failed to keep my knees bent."

Peter Krause, "Parenthood": "Parenthood is locking your child in the car." To which co-star Lauren Graham responded, "That sounds terrible. Parenthood is being a child that locks your parents out of the car — because that's funny."

Perhaps Leslie David Baker of "The Office" sums it up most succinctly: