Music is Life.
Music promotes relaxation, inspiration, some say it even helps with math. Simply put, music makes my heart happy. SO many songs and movies (Princess Bride, anyone?) lend us phrases we hear so often in our day-to-day life. It’s as important as learning 2+2 and the ABCs. It’s important to introduce these songs and movies to my kids so they understand random phrases like “have fun storming the castle” and “these are not the droids you are looking for” in conversation).
There are the classic nursery rhymes (ABCs, 5 Little Speckled Frogs, etc) and the true Classics – Mozart, Bach. Some are more educational than others (I can now say my alphabet backward, thanks to a particularly clever tune).
But if you focus on the baby-brain music, you’ll miss some real gems….
When my son was a baby, Jimmy Buffet was the music of choice, his rhythm soothed my son in car rides like nothing else.
While they are still young and impressionable, and I still have influence over the music in the car. So I can introduce some of the classics…
- “I Wanna Rock”
- “Alexander Hamilton” and “My Shot”
- Indigo Girls
- Old Dominion
- Kenny Chesney
- American Pie by Don McLean
- Jack Johnson
- U2
- Beatles
- Santana
- Dave Matthews
- Seasons of Love – from Rent (this one came from the kids calling out random numbers, which lead to the earworm of… “five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes…How do you measure a year in the life? How about love……”
- Bruce Springsteen
- Michael Jackson
- Jimmy Buffet
Some songs, the kids love and ask to hear over and over again (Daughter LOVES guitar solos and Son is a fan of anything with a strong rhythm). Other songs it’s one and done, off the playlist (e.g. “Bohemian Rhapsody”).
TIP: Check lyrics before you let your kids hear the song. Otherwise, you have to pay attention and “conveniently” mute at the beginning of “Alexander Hamilton” every….single….time.
Kids grow up fast. And their tastes and experiences are always changing and evolving; they aren’t “old and set in their ways” yet. Which means I can still experiment with their music. While I still have control of the radio and a school-day commute, I’ll take advantage of it while I can….
