Kids and Secular Music

I feel that I should expound a bit (after my last post) about how we do “secular” music with our kids.... To me, good music is good music - and yes, sometimes there are some not so tasteful lyrics mixed in there. I have a hard time depriving myself of good music just because little ears are around. SO, we explain what we can in a way they can understand if it is a situation where the lyrics represent values that our family doesn’t necessarily agree with, and if there are words we just don’t want them to hear, we make up our own lyrics and sing them louder - for instance: Billy Jean is not my brother ☺ And with some things they help us out with their interpretations - lately they have been on an Adele kick (my 6 year old especially is entranced with her voice) and one of the 4 year olds explained that in “Rumour Has It” they thought it was about someone named Uma who had taken something that belonged to someone else (we left it at that for now). I even think back to my own childhood. There are songs that I hear now that I remember listening to, yea singing along with, in the car with my mom growing up. I hear the lyrics now and think, “oh my goodness, what was she thinking letting me listen to THAT!!!” But then, it all went over my head - much like I think it does with my kids now. And by the time they are old enough to catch on to what some of it all means, I will hope they are discerning enough to come to the right conclusions. And besides, good music is what helps keep me sane sometimes, helps pick all of us up out of a funk sometimes, and has given me some of the best memories of dancing with my boys in the living room - so I am not giving it up.