The Soundtrack to Sharing

This song doesn’t stop, it just goes on and on: 

Hey! Hey! You! You!

I don’t like your girlfriend

Hey! Hey! You! You!

Think you need a new one

Hey! Hey! blah, blah, blah, blah… screech. . .I didn’t select that song, the children did. At first I thought that song and the 13 other songs they like right now were innocuous enough that I could listen to them. I was wrong; my adult sensibilities and taste have been completely rattled. I knew I was in trouble when I found myself humming “Girlfriend” at my desk one day. Dear Avril Lavigne, please leave my head! Music is like food. Every culture has it and we are drawn to it like moths to a flame. The moment your children enter the world you start singing to them. As they grow older music is one way we teach them about being people and life in general. It makes sense that while we are spending time together we listen to music. What music? Is the question.

Sometimes I am just an all out dictator and I impose my preferences. But thanks to this resolution challenge I am working extra hard to find common interests and I have traveled out of my comfort zone and into the land of the bubble gum pop where the music makes the children happy. I bought the Shrek movie soundtrack (pre-I POD Touch) and they love it. A lot. Probably too much. But on most mornings I can handle it. I have made CD’S (Children Demanding Songs) for us to listen to in the car and I sneak in songs like “Gimme Shelter” and they don’t like that. Jacob, the 11-year old is convinced he will never like the Stones and I keep telling him wait until you are a teenager! He insists there will be no Rolling Stones when he is a teenager. Yeah, right kid… I have listened to the Shrek CD somewhere between 1200 to 1500 times and the other songs they like are close contenders for play time. They still like listening to it and request it if I don’t play it. I am trying desperately to find music we can all appreciate but I have not been doing so well in that arena. I have considered getting them each their own MP3 player with headphones and letting everybody listen to their own thing but that of course would defeat the purpose. What other time in my life is my son going to talk to me about the Rolling Stones? So, I will keep introducing music I like and dealing with the feedback positive or negative and just pray I don’t have a mutiny midway through our commute.