Daddy, Turn it Up!

There is a meme going around the internet that says that you never know how terrible a song’s lyrics are, until you hear your kid singing them.  It is difficult as a parent to figure out when the music that you listen to in your car, really starts getting into your kids’ head.  But I promise the first time that your 3 year old starts jamming out to DMX, you quickly change the station.

When Brenn was a baby, we never thought twice about what was on the radio, whether it was a CD or Sirius XM.  The language was usually foul with adult conversations but we weren’t concerned.  Life changes quickly as a dad and when he started humming along with 90s hip hop, we needed to start making some changes.  We wanted to do anything that we could to better his life and keep him in a metaphorical bubble to keep him safe, and then we realized how silly that actually was.

We went through the stage that most new parents went through where all new music is terrible and we will only listen to Kids Bop radio or children’s albums.  I can remember going on many road trips, sitting in the DC traffic, ripping my hair out while hearing kids songs play on repeat in my head.  We all joke about how differently we treat our first born and any children afterwards.  Trust me, the Kids Bop Radio is not even a preset on my radio and the DVD player is usually down for the kids to watch in the mini-van.  I don’t know that I could retain the tiny bit of sanity that I currently possess if we were to continue to be boppin!

We still have Sirius in both cars and on long trips, the kids will have on their headphones to watch the movies and I fade the music to the front and listen to whatever I want.  I am aware of the volume and the names of songs since my son can see the screen and read it too often (Sex Machine makes for an awkward conversation), so I usually leave the GPS map on the screen.  I usually listen to music or podcasts when I’m alone that I don’t want the kids to hear so it is a quick move for me to change the station once I transform the whip into the dad-mobile for soccer or dance practice.  My Lilly dances all the time and sings along with any song, so I make sure we stay on edited radio stations.  I should definitely find a way to upload the video to her dancing to the edited version of Party Up by DMX because she loves the barking song.

My son has my rhythm (poor kid), and he even has some songs that he has loved at different stages of life.  I think that they say a lot about his attitude and age.  He went from the Cars song (Life is a Highway), to the Grave Digger song (Bad to the Bone), to America is my Hometown (NASCAR influence) and now he keeps singing One Call Away and it fits him!  Lilly has far too many songs to name from DMX to Welcome to Yew Nork (as she says) by Taylor Swift to anything on the pop stations.  Their tastes in music are so different and I love every part of their differences.

Stay strong out there dads and hopefully we won’t have to deal with too many music lessons!