Time to Face the Music

Music has always been a big part of my life. So when my first daughter was born, I was so excited I would one day be able to share my passion with her. Oh, the things we would do together – take mother-daughter road trips to the sound of the Rent soundtrack, fawn over Ben Harper, spend the weekend in the pouring rain eating tofu corn dogs at Farm Aid. I was giddy.

The relationship looked promising. The first song my daughter ever fell in love with was The Killers’ “All These Things I’ve Done.” The first “grown-up” song she knew the words to was Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Possess Your Heart.” See – we were on the right track.

(Before I go on, let me preface this by saying, yes, I am one of those horrible mothers that let their children listen to the radio. However, I've gotten much more vigilant in my monitoring ever since my 4-year-old repeated a cloaked expletive a DJ said one morning. She is good about censoring herself as well. If she hears The All-American Rejects’ “Gives You Hell,” she’ll immediately make hand earmuffs and screech, “Bad word! Bad word!”).

Then she turned 4, and my concert tagalong chose to go off in another direction.

Now my child’s favorite thing to do is to dress up in her Sleeping Beauty ensemble, slap on some toy heels and prance around the room singing “Party in the U.S.A.” at the top of her lungs.

“Um, honey, who are trying to be?”

“I’m Miley Cryus, mommy!”

In my mind, I’m thinking, no, if you were really Miley, you’d have on hot pants and boots, but I bite my tongue.

“How about you pretend to be Kristin Chenoweth?”

“Who?”

“She was in Wicked and on Glee.”

“No, mommy. I’m Miley.”

“Well, maybe Kate Nash? Let me pull her up on iTunes. You’ll really like her! Please?”

She stares at me with the “Mommy, get outta my grill” look and proceeds to serenade her little sister with some Jonas Brothers.

Defeated, I settle back on the couch, and think, what the heck am I getting worked up for? She’s 4. No matter what music I try to inflict on her, children like Disney pop stars, not Tom Petty. And while I don’t think Miley is the most suitable teen star for kids to look up to, right now all my daughter knows of her is that one song and nothing of a certain jaw-dropping Teen Choice Awards performance which is unfortunately still burned on my retinas.

In truth, there’s a good chance she’ll be like her dad and hate the Rent soundtrack. By the time she’s 14, both Ben Harper and I will be middle-aged. And I’m pretty sure no 17-year-old wants to hang out at a music festival with her 46-year-old mom, no matter how cool she pretends to be or how yummy tofu corn dogs are.

So for now, I just let her dance.

Tell me – what favorite songs do you and your kids share? Do they love any acts you just can’t stand?

By Nicole Plegge, Lifestyle Blogger for SmartParenting