You know those people who say, “I was such a great parent before I had kids”? Well, I didn’t OFTEN judge parents or make sweeping declarations about how I would NEVER do such and such.
But every once in a while . . . I couldn’t resist. (I’m sorry!)
I remember several years ago listening to a friend tell me about her young daughter’s new favorite song. The one that goes, “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?” Yes, that one.
If I could do that raising one eyebrow thing, I totally would have done that. In my head, of course. Not “out loud,” because, well, RUDE.
Anyway, I totally thought to myself – in my most Judgy Judgerson tone, of course – “I can’t believe she lets her daughter listen to that kind of music! I. Will. Never!”
Mm-hmmm . . .
Flash forward to, you know, NOW.
We listen to a lot of different music in our family, but I’m vigilant to make sure Annalyn doesn’t hear songs with bad words (technically profane or not) or inappropriate-for-small-ears topics. Mark isn’t as good a listener (he’s much more likely to name a song one of his favorites because of the melody rather than the words while surprise! I’m the opposite) or as quick on the change-the-station-NOW trigger, so he keeps his truck stereo glued to the Christian stations when Annalyn’s on board.
Mostly.
Mostly we’re both awesome parents. (RIGHT?) But sometimes we forget ourselves and those little ears soak up things like – oh, I don’t know – country songs that seem fine playing on the radio but sound awful coming out of her innocent mouth.
SIGH.
One of the catchiest songs on country radio right now (Go ahead. Judge and mock. It’s kind of the whole point of this post, so you might as well do it about my love of the country and western music.) includes lyrics about drinking ice cold beer . . . among other things that I’d prefer not hear come out of my five-year-old. GUESS WHAT SONG SHE LOVES TO SING???
And who can blame her? THE SONG IS CATCHY, I TELL YOU!
I have informed her that I don’t want her to sing that particular song because it’s, as she puts it, “unappropriate.” And I’m happy to report that her nightly concerts (no, I’m not kidding. What would you expect? She’s a rock star. Oh, you didn’t know? Well, she is. I know because she tells me. Daily.) feature mostly tunes from Little Mermaid and VeggieTales movies with a few of her own creations sprinkled in.
Still. Given my uppity response to my friend’s daughter all those years ago, I pretty much deserve to hear my little rock star singing in her tiny drawl, “The boys ’round here . . . drinking ice cold . . .”
Don’t tell. But it really was funny. And kind of cute. (GASP!)
Okay, fellow less-than-perfect friends. Let’s talk about eating crow. Have you ever [accidentally, perhaps?] judged a friend and lived to do the SAME EXACT THING? Or, if you’d prefer, tell me what embarrassing songs your kids like to sing!
Haha!! I love it! It’s so true — we think before parenthood that we understand what it’s about. I know I sure did because I spent so much time asking family & friends questions about parenthood, grilling ladies about pregnancy & birth, and doing my best to be “like” a parent whenever I could even though I really wasn’t. So now I’m eating my words a bit on various fronts! So easy to judge. So much harder to understand until we’ve been there.
And what we never realize is that every single child – just like every single mom – is different! So all that advice we seek only goes so far! {In other news, how ARE you, friend?? Hanging in there during these hard early days??}
One day I let my husband update the kids iPods…the following week, I caught my then 7 year old daughter walking around singing about disco sticks ala Lady Gaga. A few years ago, my mother was shocked to hear hear singing some Toby Keith song word for word, about however many beers ago…I’ve so been there!
Oh my. I think Lady Gaga might be the WORST in the catchy but inapproprate department! I’ve…maybe…been known to leave Bad Romance on the car stereo while crossing my fingers she doesn’t catch any of the words! (Just once. Or twice. Really!)
Been there. Ethan’s favorite song was Maroon 5’s ‘Moves Like Jagger’. Such a catchy little tune until I listened to the lyrics…whoops! I will admit Ethan totally created some jagger-worthy moves while shouting at the top of his lungs the questionable lyrics. Parenting critics: 1, Nikki: 0
Yes. [insert sad sigh here] Maroon 5 is more often than not catchy but not kid-friendly. So sad…
A couple years ago I was babysitting/nannying my friends 4 year old boy, and he heard ‘I’m sexy and I know it’ (her fault, not mine). And I’m only slightly ashamed to say that I totally encouraged him to sing it. I took him for swim lessons and it was the funniest thing ever to watch him dancing around the change room in his spiderman underpants singing that. Whatever hassle or trouble he gave me earlier in the day was totally forgotten when I saw that.
Oh my! Did your friend think it was cute/funny, too? I’m guessing yes, since you said it was her fault he knew the song to start with!
Well, I think I was a parent less than three months when I licked my finger and wiped something off of my daughter’s face. I swore I’d never do that.
These days I think I do a good job not judging, but do laugh a little (on the in side of course) at newer parents or parents-to-be that know exactly how they’ll parent.
Yep, I’ve done that one, too. So gross…and yet, sometimes it’s just necessary!
I’m actually embarrassed to admit that I’m the one who winds up singing the inappropriate lyrics under my breath (terrible, I know). I just get a song stuck in my head sometimes and can’t help it :) Luckily, wifey tends to stop me in my tracks most of the time before any permanent damage is done.
Nothing worse than having an inappropriate song stuck in your head…! :)