Sometimes I wonder about kids songs. I know there are a lot of different versions out there of the classics, and recently I noticed that the story time librarian sings The Wheels on the Bus with a few verses that I've never heard before. One verse goes, "The driver on the bus says 'move on back'" and I can't sing it because I just can't help thinking of Rosa Parks. The same goes for "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red & yellow, black & white...". Hello people, I'm a sociologist. I can't have my kid calling Native Americans "red" or Asians "yellow." Another one is the second verse of Jesus Loves Me: "Jesus loves me when I'm good, when I do the things I should, Jesus loves me when I'm bad, though it makes Him very sad." I don't want Charlie feeling like Jesus thinks he's "bad." Yes, he will misbehave but I don't want him to think he's "bad."
Now, I know there are people who would rather not change the classics (shout out to my wonderful Momma Bow!) but I think I may have to. I know not everyone sees things the way I do. I see the world through a specialized (and expensive!) lens. I don't think you're a bad person for singing the songs the way they're written. As my sis, Mel, would say, "I'm just sayin'."
On another note, I was talking with some friends the other day and they were talking about some parents they know who "spy" on their teenage kids. They check their MySpace pages everyday, pray with the kids & their dates before they go out (I'm sure as an intimidation tactic--hilarious), check cell phone records, etc. Many people feel like these things infringe on the teens' privacy. I feel that I should let Charlie know right now that I will feel free to "infringe" on his privacy all I want. I will also "spy" all I want and give him whatever curfew I want. He won't have a tv, internet or anything of the sort in his room. And should he earn the privilege of having a MySpace page (or whatever it is 15 years from now) I will have total access and check it several times a day. Now, I'm not saying that he can't learn independence. He can do his own laundry, clean his own bathroom, cook his own food, earn his own spending money, etc. How's that for learning independence? Sounds like a plan to me!
Oh, and before you feel the need to comment with something like, "But my parents didn't give me a curfew or 'spy' and I turned out great" let me remind you that a sample size of "1" will never result in statistical significance under any stretch of the imagination. Can I get props from the other nerds out there? Anyone? No? Okay.
My camera's been in the car for days and I'm too lazy to get it out so I'll just post this "oldie but goody" in the hopes that you're staying nice and cool in August! This was Charlie at approx. one year getting ready to build his first snowman.
4 comments:
I love it Amy! I am all about the spying technique for my children also. Those are some great "independence" lessons too. I think I will start my kids now :)!!
AMEN to everything you said. The riders on the bus is so true and the colors about race is way crazy too. For some reason, roll the gospel chariot, freaks me out and I don't think there is anything weird about it. It is just funny to me.
I completely agree about independence. I teach parent ed classes on technology to any parents that want to come. The most common question is about MySpace, facebook, and all of that. I always tell parents the same thing. We can monitor Charlie and Carley together.
My Mom told me that she sees and knows EVERY move that I make. Then she quoted (with great conviction) a few things I had done that I was pretty confident she wouldn't have known about.
I believed her and decided not to test her.
Jason O'Q
TOTALLY AGREE! Many of my clients these days are teens and it is the parents who are overly gungho (I think that's a word) to trust their kids who wind up with the greatest surprises when the truth comes out. And sadly enough, it's often Christian parents who seem to struggle with monitoring this the most.....and then frequently feel the most blind-sided. Come on people, WAKE UP!!!
And ditto on the songs :)
Meredith H
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