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Monday, May 16, 2011

Little Ears/Big Ears



Many a year ago, when my oldest two children were starting to get, well, older, I began to switch the type of music we listened to.


I had never loved country music, but as I listened to the words and lyrics I really had to think twice about what was going into my precious, innocent girls' ears.


That was about 10 years ago and I have never looked back. We are fed on a steady diet of Disney music, LDS artists and country.


But lately I have been noticing a shift even in country music. It's more subtle as it's mixed in with banjos, fiddles and words about country roads and tractors.


But it really hit home the other day when Henry was singing the following words from a song currently on the radio:


"Country girls shake it for me girls, shake it for me girls, shake it for me."


And then in the McDonald's bathroom on Saturday he was singing a Tim McGraw song, that goes something like, "I wanna go crazy, wanna go crazy with you!"


So if we think that our 4 year olds aren't internalizing and apparently memorizing the words to the songs they hear, then we are living in a fantasy world.


And then I thought of my 9 year old son, and of course my older girls (Nora is still oblivious).

Do I want Charlie thinking girls should shake it? Or do I want my older girls thinking that boys want them to shake it? NO!!!


Not to mention the amount of songs that are slowly showing up talking about one night rodeo's and such.


So if country music is slowly failing me, what is left? Bach? Mozart? I've never been much of a classical music fan. I like good beats and fun songs. Does that mean we're left only with Disney and LDS/christian artists?


I think it does.


Am I unrealistic? Yes. And I like it that way. My kids are inundated daily with bad language, bad music, skimpy clothing and immoral behavior. So they are getting their dose of reality. I can't protect them from everything (which is a big argument from parents who say that anything goes).


But I don't have to invite it into my car or home. Our kids need a place where their minds, bodies and spirits can rest from the world.


And I'm not going to forbid their personal tastes in music. That only backfires on people. But I don't want to be the one introducing it to them, you know?


So it looks like I will be setting my radio dial to Radio Disney and classical stations and what we have on our Ipod.


I think this will be good for me too. I mean, I don't want to think about country girls shaking it either, now do I?

11 comments:

  1. We follow one of the rules for Stake Youth dances: if you want to have a song added to the "acceptable" list, you have to submit the lyrics. We review them and if appropriate, add the song to the mp3 player. There is no more radio at our house. And oh my, the conversations we've had to have, but it easier than constantly saying, "I don't care if her mom likes that song, it's not appropriate for our family." Good luck!

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  2. it's so funny that you posted about this, because i just took the radio out of my boys' bedroom. i had realized that even though they use it to listen to books on cd, i couldn't regulate the radio...so, it's gone.

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  3. We also switched the car radio to Spirit 105.3. There it is and there it stays... We used to be country until the songs were about busting up a guys car because you were cheated on and so on...

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  4. I used to work for the YMCA. One day I was transporting a group of 5 year olds in the YMCA van. The radio was on and I wasn't even paying attention to what song was playing. All of a sudden, every kid in the van started singing "It's gettin' hot in here, so take off all your clothes!" at the tops of their lungs! I changed the station as fast as I could! I couldn't believe that every single kid knew the lyrics to a song like that at 5 years old...

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  5. PS "Chris" is actually Cousin Mandy. Didn't know I was posting under his account :)

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  6. Mom just to ease your mind, when we listen to country I don't even know what half the frases mean. Mainly I like listening to the tune and I only pay attention to songs I know and those songs aren't bad. Me and kate here so much bad stuff anyway that we sort of tune it out.

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  7. "Kate" is actually julia I couldn't tell who was signed in.

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  8. I am this very way! I keep the music either classical or christian. Just recently I've started playing piano tributes to current music where all the lyric's are gone and it's just a piano, just as nice sometimes and the kids enjoy it because they think they "know" the songs...
    Good for you, I wish there were more moms like you that I had contact with on a regular basis...

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  9. We listen to classical or jazz. or CDs of acapella groups. Something broke in my listening preferences when my children were born- suddenly I felt like pop and rock music was not relevant and didn't apply to my life. I crossed the "mother line".

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