What kind of music do you listen to with your children?

Growing up on a farm in a rural corner of the Pacific Northwest, we didn’t have cable TV. There wasn’t much to watch so the television was rarely turned on. The stereo, by contrast, was always on and music was a big part of my childhood. I still remember dancing with my mom in the living room to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ when it was just released and Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ (I was just 4). I also remember singing at the top of our lungs to Broadway musical soundtracks like Les Miserables and West Side Story. And of course we knew every single word to the Grease soundtrack too. We listened to all sorts of music as a family — from Spanish guitar to Broadway musicals, country western to ‘golden oldies’.

Music was a big part of our family road trips as well. My mom enjoyed playing the same songs or albums on the same legs of annual journeys – like the 10-hour trek to Sun Valley, Idaho. These songs reminded us of years past and built anticipation for the adventure to come. To this day these songs still transport me back to childhood travels and fond memories of family holidays. That is something I love about music—its ability to trigger feelings and recollections from deep within our memory banks.

During our year of travel the six of us have spent nearly all of our time together, and mostly in small spaces – cars, campervans, apartments, etc. While a world of entertainment is available to us at the swipe of a smartphone today, we chose, like my family, to mostly opt for the aural variety. This year we’ve listened to lots of children’s music and enjoyed many children’s audio books, but there were, of course, times when we just wanted to listen to grown-up music. So we did… and truthfully, our kids enjoyed it just as much as we did.

I’ve had several conversations with other mothers about the music they listen to with their children. One of my friends said she will only play her music for her kids if it’s not racy and there are no swear words. Another friend (not naming names! ☺) has a 7-year-old daughter who has memorised the words to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s ‘Baby Got Back’. Clearly she’s not worried about innuendo. Ha!

Michael and I also listen to music that has the odd swear word or sexual innuendo, but mostly this seems to go right over our kids’ heads. Even when they do notice, they know what’s appropriate or inappropriate and have yet to repeat a bad word. One of our favourite artists of the past few years has been Tom Odell. Ivy always requests his albums and the boys like him too. His new album was played on repeat as we drove through Europe this summer.

I thought it would be fun to list some of the adult artists/bands we enjoy as a family. Here are some favourites:

1. Tom Odell
2. George Ezra
3. Passenger
4. Gabrielle Aplin
5. Michael Kiwanuka
6. The National
7. Birdy
8. The Vaccines
9. Ryan Adams
10. Jake Bugg
11. Mathew Perryman Jones
12. Lorde
13. Lana Del Rey
14. Adele
15. Vampire Weekend

So tell me, what kind of music do you listen to with your kids? Do you limit what you listen to when your kids are around? Any favourite artists?

Courtney x

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