Monitoring Kids Music...

[cybele]

But listening to music that differs from my taste won't make them not be productive members of society.

 

[emmagrace]

But listening to music that differs from my taste won't make them not be productive members of society.

It goes deeper than that. It is the fact of whether they listen to you or not.

 

[cybele]

But taste in music isn't a fact type thing, if they don't listen to me than really, that's just developing their own tastes. I am not the be all and end all on music knowledge.

If I say "Don't open the door to strangers" I expect them to listen to me, because it is a fact that a stranger is someone they don't know and there is valid reason to not do so.

"This is not to my taste" to me, is not a valid reason to tell my children not to do something.

 

[Father_0f_7]

It goes deeper than that. It is the fact of whether they listen to you or not.

It has absolutely nothing to do with that. And if you think "good kids" always listen you're in for a rude awakening.

With almost every parent my kids have come in contact with have given us feedback on how they are polite, respectful, caring individuals. None of this has to do with what kind of music they listened to.

 

[singledad]

As far as being obedient, it is something every parent wants there kid to be.

I don't.

I don't teach my daughter to obey me. I teach her the difference between right and wrong and how to determine where on that scale something falls.

And no, it doesn't make them vulnerable. You teach them about abuse, signs of it and such.

You are making the very dangerous mistake of underestimating the deviousness of a predator. But I think that is a topic for another thread.

 

[emmagrace]

I honestly never thought I would get the response I am getting. I never knew any different. I was always taught children need a firm, strict helping hand out in life. That is how I was raised mainly by my dad, but after his dead and being raised by my old, retired grandparents things were a lot different. They were more lenient, and I never understood. My mom could also be pretty firm, but all my friends I knew had strict parents. I apologize if I've offended, but I never really knew any different.

 

[cybele]

Nah, no offence, discussion of differing opinions is the point of a forum.

 

[singledad]

Nah, no offence, discussion of differing opinions is the point of a forum.

^^^ Exactly ^^^.

Don't worry. I doubt anyone is offended.

 

[Antoinette]

bit late but whatever.. i don't really have this problem yet because my oldest is 4 and is still on very much a wiggles kick it is not my children with whom i need to restrict music..

my children will be free to listen to anything they want but my partner is another story. he loves rap, not eminem or snoop dog, he loved ICP and Twizted who if you don't know them love to sing about murder etc. now when Felix, Alegra or Mikaela are 15 and they decide they want to listen to this, that is fine (so long as it is away from me so i don't have to hear it) but as of right now i don't let Tim play it around the kids or in the car where the kids are. I'm not overly protective and it isn't an issue when they are babies but Felix is quite bright and is at an age where he repeats things..

other than that though i don't really believe in censoring what children listen to because unless you plan on homeschooling there is no way you can completely stop your children from being exposed to anything you can just teach them the difference between right and wrong and hope they make good choices..

btw Felix loves whistle, much to my MIL's disgust

 

[cybele]

Antoinette, have your kids absorbed the girl wiggle concept yet?

Sasha's face when he saw the "unveiling" of the girl wiggle on the carols was hilarious. He wanted to know why her skirt was "so hoopy".

 

[Antoinette]

haha Felix refused to acknowledge her. he left the room when he saw her because "she is not a wiggle" guess he isn't ready for equal rights wiggles haha

Alegra isn't bothered at all, so long as the music continues to be boppy she is pretty easily satisfied girls are fun while they are 2 i would like time to stand still now so i never have to have a teenager

 

[akmom]

I think teenagers get a bad rap. My parents said that having teenagers was not, for the most part, any harder than the other ages. I get the impression that they enjoyed having older kids. Interests start to overlap more.

 

[cybele]

I found the baby age MUCH harder than teenagers.

I enjoy having teens, and I enjoy having an adult daughter, I struggled with babies and toddlers. Thank goodness that is all over red rover now. Sasha is off to school at the end of the month and I am free as a bird again.

 

[Shaun Austin]

Late to the party i know but here goes... I have never really monitored my children's music or what they are watching. I think that if they are mature enough to know what they are listening to is not always what they should bring to life through their own mouths. When our younger two were younger we did have blocks on the computer to stop them listening or watching things that weren't age appropriate and wouldn't buy them anything we felt wasn't appropriate. However when they became teenagers we took away these blocks because I myself was bought up in a protected childhood me and my siblings are all kids to church leaders so naturally we were shielded from a lot of stuff, which made it a shock when i went away from home to university and then to work to be subjected to it my views of an idealist world were shattered. I never wanted my kids to have that shock so I have always let them see the world in a truthful light. If they are unsure about something they here about if its appropriate they often come to me or sometimes their mother. I think its important to make sure they see an honest and truthful view of the world. My younger two do have some limits. I think its down to two things:

- their maturity, if they can deal with it and know whats appropriate for 'real life' then its a good thing to let them have an open view of it

- and their age somethings are not appropriate for a child's age whatever. If this is the case then parents should take the chance to remove the kid from that until they are at an appropriate age.

At the end of the day you know your child best and if you know they can handle it then you should let them have access to it because its the world (love it or hate it). If they are not then its up to you to know when the right time is.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

I guess a few decades ago it could have been possible to do that - bulky stereos and records. Now... You don't even have to buy records, and lots of small devices can play music and radio.
So if you want to make a rule, make sure how are you going to enforce it. This thing to me seems completely unrealistic.

 

[ArkieMomma]

I don't monitor what they listen to... I don't figure it would do any good since they'll just hear it somewhere else anyway. In stores, at friends' houses, etc. Luckily my kids have semi decent tastes in music and they don't listen to anything hard core. My daughter has the same opinion I do...if I can't understand the lyrics I don't want to hear it...LOL. And she takes it a step further, she likes to sing, so if it has words in it she's now allowed to say, she won't listen to it because she can't sing along. As for television, we don't own them, but they have friends that do. Same thing applies there. No sense in monitoring...they'll just see it somewhere else anyway.

 

[Cop2be]

Although I didn't have the best mom, she did what we could do and my dad dit a lot for me, guiding me through life. I didn't have a normal childhood, and although I don't want my kids to go through what I did with my father dying and me having to move, I do believe in raising them strict like I used to be raised. As far as being obedient, it is something every parent wants there kid to be. Of course they will do stuff at a friends house, no doubt about it. It is sneaking and if you say to your kid not to do something, then they should listen. You are all mixing up "making them into yourself" with "strictly raising a child so they can fit into society as a productive member".

I don't want my future children to be obedient.
If I say no rap and my kid goes behind my back and listens to rap then so what? It shows they see I am being ridiculous and that they can think for themselves.

And like another poster said, they are children not dogs, obedience is for dogs and even my dog has moments where he does what he wants.

My kids will be able to listen to anything they want to listen to.

I listen to everything, Ed Sheeran, hip hop, flo-rida, Kesha etc and I don't try to mimic the ideas portrayed in these songs.
I certainly don't wake up in the morning feeling like p-diddy and I definately don't brush my teeth with a bottle of jack.