Some people might dread a seven hour road trip, but oddball-mom that I am, I look on it as an opportunity.
Yes, an opportunity to hold my children hostage, and make them listen to my music.
As part of my ongoing campaign to inspire the kids to want to continue music lessons, I stocked the car with the Reader’s Digest “700 Years of Classical Treasures: The Complete History of Classical Music…The Composers, Their Instruments, and Works.”
We listened to the first two CDs in this collection, covering Medieval and Baroque music, to an endless chorus of, “Boriiiiiing, ewwww… Can we listen to my music, nowwwww?”
I think they really enjoyed that interlude, and now have a new appreciation for classical music. Self-Delusion 101, that’s my talent.
Fortunately, I also brought the i car play, a device that allows you to play ipod tunes over your car’s FM radio.
First, we hooked up my new ipod Classic, an 80GB beauty, that was loaded with audio books and a selection of pre-loaded music.
Those Apple guys rock! Yeah, they even included our song, ABBA’s Dancing Queen.
You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in;that’s a little more difficult in the car. Bopping our heads to the beat is as much as we can do.
So, we went from listening to Ave Maria, who is full of grace, on the classical CD to singing with ABBA and Patsy Cline about looking for love, and then we listened to my daughter’s ipod collection.
My 11-year-old daughter’s collection included:
- Soundtracks to The Lion King, Hairspray, and Newsies.
- Fabulous, from High School Musical 2, in which the girl asks for “something fabulous, “Bigger and better and best, I need something inspiring to help me get along.”
- Barbie Girl by Aqua in which the girl sings “Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please”
- Glamorous by Fergie
- Crank dat dance by Soulja Boy
- American Idiot by Green Day
I’m wishing that I didn’t look up the lyrics to these songs. The tunes are kind of catchy, and since I can never make out the words, they don’t seem so bad.
So, is it better to ignore that your child is listening to crap or to never even know what they are hearing? Should I even worry? How much does she even pay attention to these songs?
Kid’s music is another reason to master Self-Delusion 101.
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“So, is it better to ignore that your child is listening to crap or to never even know what they are hearing? Should I even worry? How much does she even pay attention to these songs?”
Funny…these are questions I always ask. I tell myself I can’t be worried but then I wonder if those same lyrics are not burnt into their subconscious and played out later on in life. How weird is that?
Very funny. We always have our bedroom radio on NPR and the children go in and turn it on. They’re too young to know how to change the stations, so they get their fill of classical and jazz.
What a fun experience. I bet that she appreciates the fact that you listened to it, even though you weren’t too fond of it. Hey – at least she had The Lion King, Hairspray, and Newsies!