Kids and music on the radio...

[TheOldMan]

We don't shelter our girl from specific music, per se. Her mother and I just have a strong aversion to music that sucks, therefore our daughter doesn't get exposed to it. But we love a lot of different types of music and we expose her to all of it. And if she comes home one day asking about a band or singer that a classmate was talking about I'd find it and play some for her to let her decide if she likes it or not.

For a while my girl's favorite movie was the remake of Karate Kid, and it features Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," so I'd occasionally pull that up on Slacker for her so she could dance to it.

The funny thing is, when we're in the car we usually listen to Slacker's '70s station, so we're hearing the same music that my mom and I listened to in the car when I was my daughter's age.

 

[LvMyLaxKid]

We don't shelter our girl from specific music, per se. Her mother and I just have a strong aversion to music that sucks, therefore our daughter doesn't get exposed to it. But we love a lot of different types of music and we expose her to all of it. And if she comes home one day asking about a band or singer that a classmate was talking about I'd find it and play some for her to let her decide if she likes it or not.

For a while my girl's favorite movie was the remake of Karate Kid, and it features Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," so I'd occasionally pull that up on Slacker for her so she could dance to it.

The funny thing is, when we're in the car we usually listen to Slacker's '70s station, so we're hearing the same music that my mom and I listened to in the car when I was my daughter's age.

Yeah, that's how we are too. I listen to the top 40 occasionally, enough to know what's what. But, it also gets old fast, especially when they play the same songs every 2 hours. I'd say in our car, the top 40 gets played about 20% of the time, and the rest of the time we listen to Sirius. It's either 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, Disney or Altnation. My DH also picked up a record player that hooks to your computer, and you can play old albums on it. My son thinks it's so fun to play old albums, and we have a HUGE selection, thanks to some flea market finds. I have to admit I'm kind of like you, in that I'm not big on a lot of popular songs. But, I DO listen to it, and there are some I DO like. We go all over the place on our radio. LOL

But, with the way the media is, it's hard NOT to know who JB is.......although not sure she's missing anything by NOT knowing. :laugh:

And I admit, there is A LOT of music that "sucks"........

 

[cybele]

I have a rule in my car and it's "When I'm driving, I get to pick the music, when you're driving, you get the pick the music".

Which was all fine and dandy until I had to take my car in to get the brakes fixed and my 19yr old had to pick me up from the mechanic and drive me home because the mechanic found another hundred things wrong with it and it was going to take all day, and she remembered that rule and took full advantage of it, including taking the long way home to prolong the music. It wasn't even music she liked, it was "It's a small world after all" on repeat. Very fitting that I came up with the rule when she was 4 and in love with that song ad I had enough of listening to it in the car.

 

[LvMyLaxKid]

I have a rule in my car and it's "When I'm driving, I get to pick the music, when you're driving, you get the pick the music".

Which was all fine and dandy until I had to take my car in to get the brakes fixed and my 19yr old had to pick me up from the mechanic and drive me home because the mechanic found another hundred things wrong with it and it was going to take all day, and she remembered that rule and took full advantage of it, including taking the long way home to prolong the music. It wasn't even music she liked, it was "It's a small world after all" on repeat. Very fitting that I came up with the rule when she was 4 and in love with that song ad I had enough of listening to it in the car.

LOL! Well, my son won't be driving for another 8 yrs at least, and I don't think it would be nice of me to ONLY listen to what I like. I let him have a say too, but most of the time, we like the same things, so it's not a big deal. Once in a while I'll turn it to the Disney channel for him, but when something OVERLY cheesy or annoying comes on, I turn it. lol

 

[akmom]

Cybele, your post made me smile! I only wish that as driver I chose the music, but too often I resign to the techno "Gummy Bear" song on repeat because it's slightly better than screaming baby. I once did a 12-hour road trip listening to pirated Veggie Tales songs, thanks to my oldest, just to keep the crying at bay...

 

[LvMyLaxKid]

Cybele, your post made me smile! I only wish that as driver I chose the music, but too often I resign to the techno "Gummy Bear" song on repeat because it's slightly better than screaming baby. I once did a 12-hour road trip listening to pirated Veggie Tales songs, thanks to my oldest, just to keep the crying at bay...

We've done that with Wiggles CDs when Parker was little.

 

[IADad]

Cybele, your post made me smile! I only wish that as driver I chose the music, but too often I resign to the techno "Gummy Bear" song on repeat because it's slightly better than screaming baby.

I still wake up my 6yo every morning singing "he's a wake-up bear..." to that tune.

 

[IADad]

We've done that with Wiggles CDs when Parker was little.

D-O-R-O-THY, Dorothy the dinosaur....!
chugga chugga big red car...
Henry the Octopus...

it was the life blood of my 11yo (a fact which he now denies all knowledge of, I suspect he's repressing it...but we still have the purple feather sword somewhere....)

 

[LvMyLaxKid]

D-O-R-O-THY, Dorothy the dinosaur....!
chugga chugga big red car...
Henry the Octopus...

it was the life blood of my 11yo (a fact which he now denies all knowledge of, I suspect he's repressing it...but we still have the purple feather sword somewhere....)

:laugh:

Parker was OBSESSED from the time he was about 16mo until about 4. I have to admit, it grows on you, and the songs are catchy. We saw them in concert twice. I really didn't mind listening to kids music, but it's also nice to listen to "normal" music with him now that he's older. LOL I remember one time we were traveling, and he was 18mo. He was getting SO restless, and the only thing he wanted to hear was "Rock a bye Your Bear"......over and over........:goofy:

 

[IADad]

How about it when kids get lyrics wrong?

We went from Wiggles straight into Scooby Do, and there was one Scooby Movies called "Witches Ghost" wherein there is a band called "The Hex Girls" whose title song went - "We're the Hex Girls, and we wanna put a spell on you." He thought it was "We're the hex girls an a fanna fanna spell on you..." he fought us to the very core of his being that he was right and we were wrong, despite understanding that our way made sense in English and his did not. We have it recorded...that will be fun video to pull out on Prom night, or when he brings home a serious girlfriend...we're building a library of those special moments.

 

[LvMyLaxKid]

How about it when kids get lyrics wrong?

We went from Wiggles straight into Scooby Do, and there was one Scooby Movies called "Witches Ghost" wherein there is a band called "The Hex Girls" whose title song went - "We're the Hex Girls, and we wanna put a spell on you." He thought it was "We're the hex girls an a fanna fanna spell on you..." he fought us to the very core of his being that he was right and we were wrong, despite understanding that our way made sense in English and his did not. We have it recorded...that will be fun video to pull out on Prom night, or when he brings home a serious girlfriend...we're building a library of those special moments.

HAHA! Yes, remember that Leona Lewis song a few years back called Bleeding Love? He thought she was saying, "peeing low." :laugh: And when Poker Face was playing one time, he said, "Why does she want to poke her face?" LOL Kids are funny.......Oh, and you know that Kings Of Leon Song, "I Could Use Somebody"? Parker thought they were saying, " I could use some butt air" and wondered why they wanted to fart.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

I remember loving one french song with a word "le amour". It was because i thought a man sang about lemurs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemur

 

[cybele]

There was a song in the 90's, and I can't remember who sings it, but the chorus had the line "Cherish the joy of always having you here by my side" when Dita was little she was convinced that the line was "Cherish the joy of Louis Avenue here on the side".

The street we lived on back then had a Louis Avenue off it so she thought it was a song about our street.

 

[cybele]

Madonna.
That's pretty appalling that I didn't know that off the top of my head, also according to my husband it was released in the 80s not 90s so I'm pretty much an all round failure at song recollection today.

Although I never realised that Ash had such a grasp on Madonna's back catalogue...

 

[IADad]

Ha those are good ones,

We were listening to hits 1 this morning and that sille Bonnie MCgee sone"American Girl" came on, and I treid to really listen to the lyrics.

Well, overall, they don't make much sense - basically an "I'm a girl and I'm going to do anything I want" kind of theme, but rather than being empowering it justseems pretty frivolous and pointless.

But the funny part, after looking up the lyrics was discovering that Ms McGee is not the teen something I thought she probably was...she's a 29 yo old lady....if these girls only knew the age of the lemming they were following.

 

[cybele]

Can't say I've ever heard that song.

 

[Andrew W.]

We don't and never did censor, either, but we talk about songs and lyrics. Overtly sexual stuff in popular music has never really offended me, and I have never thought it was going to seduce my kids, even when they liked a song because of its catchy tune. I do listen to AJ's music, and she shares it with me because she knows I would never tell her she can't listen to something she likes.

I think that what kind of music you have in the house when the kids are little is going to influence them more than what they hear on the radio (or Pandora now) as teens. Ours grew up on Dar Williams and Christine Lavin, and old folk music like the Weavers and Pete Seeger. Also Jazz and some classical.

There were some Billie Holiday or Nina Simone lyrics we had to have some serious conversations about pretty early on with both of them. You can absolutely explain what a hooker is to a four-year-old in a way that is neither dismissive nor graphical and still reflects your values, and explain why there are certain songs they aren't old enough to be singing themselves. My kids knew by the time they were five that "This Land is Your Land" was a protest song.

The influences I worry about are more the things that are very popular and creepy, like Twilight. When I was a teen, it was Sting's "Every Breath You Take." People thought "Every Breath You Take" was romantic. It got played at school dances! That is the kind of thing that scares me.

 

[IADad]

The influences I worry about are more the things that are very popular and creepy, like Twilight. When I was a teen, it was Sting's "Every Breath You Take." People thought "Every Breath You Take" was romantic. It got played at school dances! That is the kind of thing that scares me.

I guess I don't see the need to worry...yes I remember the song and I just went and re-read the lyrics. I think there are plenty of interpretations and various tones of color to several lines, but nothing is concretely creepy. I guess I don't see any reason I would ban it from a high school dance. Sure I get that you could view it as someone being overly possessive, or even stalking, you could also look at it as someone missing someone, who despite their absence is still present in the writer's thoughts and dreams. There's a certain bitterness yet a nostalgia that seems to correspond to a classic "breakup song" The sort of "I can't stand you, but I'll miss all these things about you" sentiment.

 

[IADad]

Yesterday, my 11 yo said he had something he wanted me to see.

He pulled up youtube, and pulled up a video to a song "What does the fox say?' I dutifully watched it and was left feeling rather "WTF" So, I asked him about it. He told me his music teacher had shown it in class. I said, "Okay, what was the context? Did she say anything about it? Did she ask you questions about it? Nope, nothing, she just said the tune had been stuck in her head, so she played it.

Well, I don't know that it's particularly damaging, it just seems like a colossal waste of time. I guess I woul dhave expected a teach to try to start a dialogue about it. I'm just really at a loss for what she thought she was doing.

I'm not going to make an issue of it, she's done some good things, some innovative things, so whether this was just a down moment, or a let's see what they say tomorrow, or just a swing and a miss, I'm really not sure.

 

[LvMyLaxKid]

Yesterday, my 11 yo said he had something he wanted me to see.

He pulled up youtube, and pulled up a video to a song "What does the fox say?' I dutifully watched it and was left feeling rather "WTF" So, I asked him about it. He told me his music teacher had shown it in class. I said, "Okay, what was the context? Did she say anything about it? Did she ask you questions about it? Nope, nothing, she just said the tune had been stuck in her head, so she played it.

Well, I don't know that it's particularly damaging, it just seems like a colossal waste of time. I guess I woul dhave expected a teach to try to start a dialogue about it. I'm just really at a loss for what she thought she was doing.

I'm not going to make an issue of it, she's done some good things, some innovative things, so whether this was just a down moment, or a let's see what they say tomorrow, or just a swing and a miss, I'm really not sure.

LOL Yeah, we've listened to that. It's just a new youtube fad right now, and it's just a silly video. It IS catchy, but also strange. I don't see any harm in it, although I HEARD it's about drugs. But, what child is going to know that, unless you say something?? I see no harm in it.....its' just a passing phase......