The other night, my children and I were listening to some songs from Wicked on my iPod. As my daughter stood on our fireplace stage belting out Defying Gravity (accompanied by Elsa before she was Elsa), I instantly was taken back to my own childhood. It seems like just yesterday I was listening to Diana Ross sing Upside Down on our record player and grooving it out to show tunes from Bye-Bye, Birdie or South Pacific. Yes, the technology has changed quite a bit from my crackly old record player to the small device that contains hundreds of songs with the push of a button, but the act of enjoying music is still a constant!
In our family it seems to be the go-to activity. Most week nights, it is just me and my two kids. There isn’t a ton of time after work and before dinner to do anything too involved. So we turn on the music. Typically the three of us take turns choosing songs to play and dance to. The choices are as eclectic as all of us, with anything ranging from a Laurie Berkner number to Chandelier by Sia or Lollipop by The Chordettes. We can spend a good hour at this activity and I love it. I love that my kids love it, too. My two year old’s current favorite is All About the Bass and my older girl loves Broadway tunes from yesterday and today. She is probably one of the few six year olds who requests Night Letter from Two Gentlemen of Verona, the Musical.
Although I have some reservations about some of the lyrics of the current hits, I remind myself that I sang Olivia Newton John’s Let’s Get Physical thinking it was a song about exercise! It doesn’t matter that the current oldie radio stations we listen to while driving mainly play songs from my childhood rather than 60’s and 70’s hits. When did I get so old?? Thanks to technology, I can introduce my kids to The Beatles, Jackson Five, and Carole King all with the click of a button. It gives me chills thinking that someday my own children will enjoy this very same activity with their own kids, and that a certain song may take them back to a Tuesday evening in 2015.
Do your kiddos love music? What are some of your favorite songs?
