When my sons were younger--like toddler/preschooler age--Husband and I tried to expose them to a variety of musical genres. Now, the ulterior motive of course was to save ourselves the trauma of having to listen to endless repetitions of the Wiggles and Raffi (not that there's anything wrong with Kiddie Music...it just made my head want to explode after a while...especially stuck in a car...in traffic..I think I might have actually once yelled "Oh yeah? Well "The Wheels on the Stinkin' Bus" better get the heck out of my way! So NOT soothing...) From Husband, they learned to appreciate Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Clash*. From me, they grew to enjoy Showtunes, Mozart and other classical composers, and...Jimmy Buffett. And truly, you can't go wrong with the cool, laid-back island vibe of Mr. Buffett, right? Derek used to request it so often that the first song he actually knew all the words to was: Cheeseburger in Paradise. In Kindergarten, he landed in trouble for the very first time in his school career by singing in the hallway. The tune that got him busted? Fins. (And incidentally, he was also doing the shark-arm motions as well. During recess, he had to draw a picture and write about what he had done wrong. Seriously. How could I be mad about that? I was proud of my own little Parrothead...)
Alas, he seemed to outgrow his Buffett phase when he discovered that it was much easier to rock out on the drums with the likes of Queen, Bon Jovi, and Ozzy. And in terms of his listening pleasure, he discovered pop/hip-hop in the form of Taio Cruz, Usher, and the Black-Eyed Peas. But then, a close friend of his was trash-talking Buffett before he came over one day (as in "I don't get it, why do people like that music?"). Hmmm...sounds like an ideal opportunity to...play Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads on repeat, the entire time he's here! (Yeah! Torture The Guests, that's my motto!) Derek claimed he couldn't remember back to the time when he used to listen to this stuff constantly; but as he became reacquainted with oldies-but-goodies like Changes in Latitude/Changes in Attitude and Volcano, it appeared to dawn on him that he actually liked the sun-and-surf tunes.
He appreciated it so much, in fact, that he swiped the CD to take upstairs and play in his room. Next thing I knew, the three boys and one girl were filming themselves--I'm sorry, "making music videos"--lip-syncing to Margaritaville. It was a great deal less...mellow...than your traditional Buffett rendition, with sequences that somehow involved leaping off the bed, spinning around on a desk chair, fake-fistfighting in slow-motion, and throwing slippers at the vocalist (hey, they were SHARK-shaped-slippers!). But at least the kids were--in their own unique "raging goofball" kind of way--expressing enjoyment for some truly classic beach-rock. Let's see, how can I use this to my advantage...I've got it: since it's nowhere near time for a vacation yet, I'll teach them to serenade me while I sit on the porch sipping Boat Drinks! I feel closer to the ocean already!
(a personal favorite musical memory from that era is when 3-year old Derek plopped himself down with makeshift drumsticks, called for silence, and announced that he was going to sing the RHCPs' Californication. So funny. So inappropriate. Husband in SOOO much trouble! Also, Derek would wander through the grocery store humming the Clash's Lost in the Supermarket...and no, I'm not making that up!)
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