It is well known in younger circles that it is a right granted by Father Time himself that on one night every year, children are allowed to stay up way past their bedtimes, all the way to (gasp!) midnight. New Year’s Eve is the weapon children wield against parents who’d rather see them snug in bed by the time the ball drops, but this year, parents have their own instrument to gain an edge in the bedtime battle.

Sure, a talented parent can always lie to their child and try to show them an Internet video of a ball dropping elsewhere at another time, thus thwarting their annual mission to stay up past midnight.

But for those who need a little help nudging their kids into credulity and an early bedtime, Netflix has enlisted a kids’ TV star to do the lying instead: Starting as early as right now, parents can turn on King Julien’s New Year Countdown, notes Gizmodo, starring the popular lemur King Julien from the Netflix (of course) show All Hail King Julien, based on the Madagascar movies. Because if you can’t lie to your children by yourself, get some cartoons to help.

The three-minute countdown heralds the coming of 2015, ostensibly so parents and babysitters can have their own New Year’s Eve celebrations without tired kids bouncing off the walls. At least that’s my guess.

Time points out that 34% of parents polled for Netflix trick their kids into going to bed early on that night anyway, so now they’ll have some additional help. As for any help they’ll receive when their kids get old enough to discover their New Year’s fiction, parents will be on their own.

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