That's the title of a chapter in my favorite parenting book, "The Three-Martini Playdate." The book was a gift from my sister years ago, but it was too tongue-in-check for me to read it until this summer. (Up until that point, I needed real information, as in, "What the heck am I supposed to be doing as a parent?" And "Are they just playing mind games with me?")
Back to the children's music...
So this chapter titled "Children's Music: Why?" brings up some very thought-provoking questions, such as, "Why do we torture ourselves by listening to purple dinosaurs sing about love?" When we were young we listened to our parents' music. And we turned out okay. In fact, certain songs from the 70's still take me down memory lane, helping me remember very specific moments in my childhood.
So the kids and I were in the car last week, heading to the library and listening to a radio station that plays only kids' music. In between songs, the DJ was pretending to talk to an elephant -- an elephant who spoke with a voice that made elephants sound like absolute morons. Even Oo asked, "What IS this?"
I thought back to that chapter in the book -- the fresh perspective it offered -- and I consider two options: Listen to the dorky elephant or switch over to one of the stations I like to listen to when the kids aren't with me. The down-side to the latter option is that we have satellite radio in our car. The DJs are free to drop the f-bomb or any other colorful language whenever they choose. But, in reality, I've only ever heard the f-bomb on the Howard Stern channel. So I go ahead and switch over to XMU -- the independent/college/alternative channel that I do so enjoy listening to.
Kid you not, at the very moment that the station tunes in, there is a young guy singing very apathetically, "When they pulled her body from the river, her eyes were still wide open, but her mouth was sewn shut."
CLICK! Immediately I switch back to the kids' station. From the rear-view mirror, I scan the look on Oo's face. No reaction. Whew!
I think to myself, "Maybe when the dumb elephant shuts up, they'll play that song about french toast, or better yet, maybe they'll play 'Alien in My Nose.' Oo and I like singing along with that song, and it's far less grotesque than what we just heard on XMU."
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We recently received the Madagascar soundtrack. Annika is quite taken with the song "Copacabana." I don't know how many times we have gone over the story of the song and what it means.
ReplyDeleteTom Paxton is a fun one though. A little gross, and maybe for a little older, but fun. The girls love "Time Out Time Again" and "Somebody Burped." :)
Loved talking with you today.
Are we going to Detroit?
I don't have satellite radio but I tend to avoid my radio stations for the same reasons you said. My kids probably wouldn't recognize the f-bomb (or other curse words), but they'd pick up on some subject that I wouldn't want to discuss with them, no doubt! Lately I've been getting cds from the library. One they LOVED was Alvin and the Chipmunks--Greatest Hits. They would repeatedly ask for that cd and howl with laughter every single time they heard it. Gotta love those cute little rodents!
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