Deep Thoughts
On parenting, music, and the intersection of the two
Monday, January 21, 2008
We’re All Headed for a Platinum Fate
- introducing kids to the big stuff -
I recently saw a Paul McCartney interview where he said something unforgettable. I’ll paraphrase: we want to help the world to heal but we get paralyzed when faced with the choice of which cause to champion -- peace, ecology, hunger, human rights -- but making the right choice is not what’s important because all of these human causes meet up and join together at some point. What is important is to start devoting your time to making a positive impact, to join in and help the big cause of making the world better.
I’ve found that school age kids are way into improving the world, but it’s a little tricky to find the right time to introduce your preschool kids to the subject. Anyone who has witnessed the totally squeezed out toothpaste tube or the completely unraveled toilet paper roll knows that little ones are not the greatest conservationists. What worked wonders with Zoe was a particular book “Being Wasteful” by Joy Berry (part of the Help Me Be
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Music Your Kids Will Dig and You’ll Like Too
CLASSICAL MUSIC: To tell you the truth, I try to go slow with exposing Zoe to classical music because I want her to develop a love for it and not a preconceived notion that it’s somehow boring or exclusively grown up music.
In addition to the albums I mention below, I highly recommend you rent or purchase Disney’s Fantasia and fast-forward to the Mickey Mouse excerpt, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Sit with your child because it’s a little scary at first, but this one excerpt has done more to awaken Zoe to the joys of classical music than anything else. The rest of the film is almost as rewarding. It’s a marvel to me that Walt Disney invested the enormous effort and expense to create this extraordinary animated valentine to classical music.
If you’re interested, please try some of these classical albums on your kids, especially the last one:
Tchaikovsky, Ballet Suites -- The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. My view may be influenced by the fact that I have two little
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Zoe’s Faves, an iPod Playlist
Early on, I was very disciplined about maintaining a “Zoe’s Faves” playlist on our iPod. Whenever she’d react well to a song I liked or had a meaningful association to a particular song, I’d add it to the list. Below is an edited version of the playlist that only contains what I know are her favorite songs. Zoe is now three and a half and she can sing along joyfully to every one of the songs below.
Maybe this list will inspire other parents to expose their children to something more than Barney’s Favorites. Zoe also listens to lots of children’s music and those recommendations appear in a different Deep Thought.
