Sharing What We Love with Our Children
As parents it is our job to show our children the world, including the things that we love most. For me I knew that sharing my love of music would be an integral part of my parenting, but once my children arrived I was shocked at how tightly I reigned in their exposure to music. Suddenly the lyrics that flowed freely from my mouth before becoming a mother made me blush and quickly change the radio station.
Certainly we’ve spent our share of hours with Justin Roberts, Laurie Berkner, and Milkshake, but at what point is it appropriate to pull out the old CD’s…or dare I even say cassette tapes…to share what we love with our children?
My daughter began speaking very early, which showed me exactly how advanced a toddler’s receptive language skills are even if they are not communicating through their own words. I switched to only country music on the car radio at that point knowing that the DJ’s would not be saying anything inappropriate between songs. Eventually we added in Christian contemporary, but I still keep that one classic rock channel programmed into my buttons. Last week I hit it by accident on the way home from kindergarten pick-up and a U2 song was playing. I sat at that red light explaining to my kids the name of the band and how it was spelled, and while my daughter explained that U2 could also be spelled, “You, too,” my three year old rocked out in his car seat.
It felt good. My kids, me, and the greatest band of all time in one car.
While clearly it’s not time to break out the Led Zeppelin, I’m enjoying allowing some of my musical favorites from the past sneak back into my life with my children. I need to protect them, but we can’t have them thinking of the Little Einsteins every time I sit down at the piano and play a Mozart Concerto. I’d like to share my love of music on my terms.
What are you looking forward to sharing with your children?