Hannah has been introduced to ‘Gangnam style’ at school. So thrilled about that – not. She came home and promptly taught Meg the words “Ooooh – sexy lady” (probably because they are the only ones she can remember). Meg then started repeatedly singing it around the house. Once it got into her head, she just kept singing it, despite my telling her to stop. Many, many times.
How do you explain to a 5 year old what “Oooh, sexy lady” means, much less why it is not appropriate for her to say? I know Meg doesn’t understand what it means, but in some ways that makes it worse. After several days of me reminding her that it is not something that is appropriate for little girls to say, she has stopped (thank goodness).
I have always been protective of my kids. Not in a never allowed out of my sight way (They have so much freedom around the farm) but in a ‘cutting out too many outside influences, and allowing my children to remain children for as long as possible” way. We are careful about the types of DVDs, and television we allow our kids to watch, and the music they listen to. I will not buy clothing for my kids which is too short/ tight/ adult looking. In short we want our kids to be kids.
Songs that are full of adult ideas like ‘being sexy’ are just another way in which the adult world is encroaching on my kids childhood. I want to wait until they have the emotional maturity to deal with adult concepts before I introduce them. Asking kids to deal with these things too early is not good for them.
Even when my kids are old enough to understand what ‘sexy’ means, I want them to value themselves for qualities like their kindness, perseverance courage, and strong work ethic. I never want them to value themselves (or be valued for others) for how sexy they are. A song which seems to go on and on about being “sexy” whilst men leer at women’s bottoms is not the kind of image or lyrics I want my kids to see.
I know that gangnam style is not the worst offender, but it is the one which has been going through our house at the moment.
What do you think? Am I over reacting? Do you mind your kids singing these kinds of songs? Should I just home school my kids, lock the farm gate, and never allow them to meet anyone until they are 25?
You need to do what is good for your family. Although growing up in the 70's with slightly hippy parents I can say that the songs we sang and listened to had the same connotations they just used the words of their era. As kids you don't understand what that means. They are just songs that Mum and Dad listen to and you sing along to.
I don't like it either, but we have substituted the words. For some reason 4 yo Bailey thought it was 'hey ships and ladders' so that is what we sing now 🙂
Looking back at some of the songs I loved and sang when I was a young girl, I’m quite appalled at the lyrics and amazed my mother didn’t say anything. Though of course if she had then I may have sung even louder. Even now my (grown-up) children ask me if I understand what songs allude to while I sing along and of course I don’t.
You aren't over-reacting; children grow up too quickly these days and are exposed to so many things that parents may not like. But don't forget that family values go a long way to counteracting this.
I dont think you are over reacting, not at all. Its hard – adn there are some songs that are played in the radio that make me stop and going ummmm what the, because it is not approriate, and im a good 20 something years older than your daughter!!
#teamIBOT
I was pretty appalled that the twin's school had Katy Perry songs for choir. One of their friends from church (younger) even had the song 'I've Got A Hangover' on her Nintendo DS, and that got stuck in the kid's heads for a few days.
It's very hard once they have contact with so many other kids on a daily basis, and those other kids are bringing in their influences from home/elsewhere. I think the best we can hope for is that when we talk to them respectfully and explain how inappropriate it all is, they will come away knowing that their parents love and respect them enough to speak to them as the young adults that they are/going to be. I've definitely had to face the fact that even though they are only in kindy this year, they are growing up much faster than our generation did at that age.
Good luck!
Beth.
I think you're perfectly right with this Jo. It's so hard to escape it though. I think its my daughter's school Grade 4 class are performing the dance at the school Christmas concert! My daughter (now 8) is right into Taylor Swift at the moment. When you listen to the lyrics they are totally inappropriate. She has also been singing Katy Perry and others for choir at school. I'm kinda 'lucky' in a way she doesn't understand what the lyrics mean and is very innocent about it all but I'm not sure what else to do about it. I guess you could say the same about my infatuation with Bay City Rollers when I was about 10. I didn't have a clue what they were singing about. All I knew was that they were kinda cute. Really? Did I think that? LOL
Anne xx