Okay, my daughter's five. She was into Peppa Pig and the like a few months ago. No problem. Then all of a sudden, she loves Ariana Grande (okay, I can live with that), Nicki Minaj (who she describes as the rude lady) and, worst of all, Miley Cyrus. What's a concerned parent to do? There's virtually no avoiding these influences!!

but i guess its problematic when they try and emulate shit they see. im more down with an audio-only policy

I don't know, I think children are more aware than we give them credit for. Have you even seen them engage with each other when they think adults aren't watching?

.

Seriously?

I assume you have seen her most recent videos, heard her songs, seen her antics?

but if no dialogue is to be had
*poof*

Assuming your question was, why do I think Miley Cyrus is a bad in fluence on my five year old daughter, then I will answer. A couple of years ago, she was a fairly tame entertainer, the sort of singer whom children would listen and dance to, and parents would have no reason to be concerned. Then, almost overnight, presumably driven by a desire become relevant to an older demographic, she started singing about sex and drugs and virtually fucking the camera every chance she got. Trouble is, her younger fans were still there, being influenced by, and emulating, what she was doing on camera. Perhaps if you had a five year old daughter and saw her trying to twerk, you would understand!

You ask me childish rhetorical questions and then complain that one of my replies is juvenile.

Was my concern about Miley Cyrus so opaque to you that you needed to ask me those questions? I doubt it.

I was simply speaking to my audience.

if that offends your sensibilities i am sorry

I take no offence on a message board, sir.

Let me ask you a question. You singled out Miley, and made no mention of Nicki. Why?

Ah, I think I understand what you were getting at now. Why do I consider Mikey worse than the likes of Nicki? I think it's because, with Nicki, it's always been that you get what you see and her most risque stuff is out of view of children, whereas Miley, as I suggest, came in through the front door as a children's entertainer and, once in, starting handing out molly at the party.

.

especially considering every kid is different

you play/show nikki to a kid

one may just like the sound
one may emulate the raunchy stuff
one may be loudly curious asking questions
one may loudly fake to know what stuff means
one may be quietly curious
one may just be confused and disinterested

you never know.

any hip-hop talking about doing drugs, casual sex and the worship of money

turn off the radio maybe?

Haha.

my son who is also 5 wouldnt be able to recognize any of those artists. He listens to and watches what I let him.

Perhaps because you only have a radio, does this issue seem confusing to you.

im sorry but what tv shows or movies or radio station that is suitable viewing for a 5 year old do these people people appear on? None. So why is it so hard to monitor what your child watches/listens too? Its not like they are 8 or 9 and heavy outside influences come into play. But monitoring them right now shouldnt be that difficult.

No I am not in control of him every waking hour. But if he comes home asking to about a show he heard about at school I let him know if its appropriate or not. A couple of times he came home from his grandparents singing some song he heard in the car with his grandparents. The songs were sexual but he didnt know any better. So I told him not to sing those songs anymore and I had a talk with his grandparents. No problems since.

So again tell me how these artists are unavoidable because you still havent answered that question.

You just answered it for me when you mentioned about songs your child has heard when withe grandparents. Regrettably, in the week, I see my children for about 2 hours a day.

You are in the presence, and control, of your son during his every waking hour?

there's a lot of music out there that's suitable for children that adults can listen to as well

but she likes Ke$ha so that kind of ruins it all.

she was singing usher "kiss it like you"
the other day
that is when i turned on gospel
and just play that all the time

lol
her current jams are
"when jesus say yes" by michelle williams
and anything Michael jackson

ive done well
oh she just turned 4

but I try to make sure I've got enough variety on my ipod so they'll really never get much radio in the car.

naw you aint. and dont be singin that shit in my house. (i'ont cuss at my baby but still)

we such hypocrites, lol.

whatever they like, i want to have conversations
about what elements of it they like.

i'd don't expect them to like what i like,
but i'd feel ashamed if they liked "whatever's hot"
without having any type of discernment about what was good or not.

i would also feel some kind of way if they didn't dig MJ,
and if they disliked stevie wonder, I'd wonder if they had a soul.

Haha, I hope my kids are snobbish about everything they like!

my parents played and bought music they liked.
if they didn't like it, they wouldn't buy it.

that's why I grew up listening to soul. that's what my parents listened to.

later on they tried to encourage me to like rap
and modern r&b singers, but it didn't take for the most part.

i guess my point is that kids are not discerning until they hit their teen years...
and if they are going to like music at all, they will like whatever you play for them.

so you can influence their taste just by playing good music around the house.

Right. My daughter loves the new D, she likes Zo! And + FE. That's what I listen to around her. She's getting into Stevie Wonder. I also have to subject myself to Barney, and Peg + Cat, but she really likes good music. I can play Tribe or De La and she nods her head.

Oh, my daughter is only 2.5 years old 😊

This feels like a loaded question.

My dad loved earth wind and fire.
Guess who my favorite band was until i got to college.

Earth wind and fire.

they'll listen to what you listen to together.

I ain't tryna be 'playery on you.

Joe pretty took it the direction I would've.
An effective way to eschew all those diva artists that aren't for kids is to expose them to other cool artists.

My girls dig:

Santogold
Bobbi Humphrey
Alice Coltrane
The Jets
M.I.A.
Janet

It's fun to play Jhene Aiko then follow that up w/ some Sade.

The 7-year-old enjoyed Thriller and is in love w/ MJ.
I played "I Can't Help It" for her one day.
Her: Daddy, that's song is pretty
Me: You know who wrote that song? I genius named Stevie Wonder.
*plays You & I*
Her: That song is pretty, too!
Me: You like , right? Check out this Janet video.

At that point, I can play her anything as long as I refer to the familiar.
Now, the source becomes the familiar.

I appreciate this. She does quite like Jhene, actually. She likes k Michelle, too.

they wouldn't hear much Miley at the house, because i don't listen to her songs.

But funnily enough, I have been playing black Messiah on repeat around the house. She must think that's a slow burner

Dance w/ her while listening
Play w/ her.
Bake cookies or make hot coacoa at the same time you put it on.
Usually helps. :)

well, maybe not the end.
she'll start developing her own taste later on.

but if she has a certain framework for what qualifies as a solid record,
that framework probably won't go away, even when she starts listening to
the stuff she choses for herself.

for example, with nicki minaj, for a child the most obvious thing would be the theatricality of it - the voices, wigs, crazy outfits.

there's tons of stuff i listened to as a kid where i didn't understand the lyrics, viewed the performance in a different way. i now look back and think 'wtf?' but in the end it didn't have a detrimental effect on my development. additionally, i was exposed to lots of other music/art/culture and always had a grounding from my parents in terms of what was right/wrong/acceptable/etc.

i totally see why you would not deliberately go out of your way to buy miley cyrus cds for your kid, but at the same time, if everything else is in order, exposure to some of that stuff probably won't do any serious harm.

she was concerned b/c she understood the lyrics and had a pretty specific reaction to them since she was a single mother. LOL.

on the other hand, i had no idea what the song was about and i didn't care. i loved the sound of the whole thing including the way MJ sang whatever the words. i couldn't have cared less what he was talking about. none of it made much sense to me since i didn't understand sex or nightclubs or infidelity or paternity.... and the song definitely didn't corrupt me.

not really.
like i knew they were singing words but i didn't try to
search for meaning in those words until i was in high school.

and by then, it was an intentional effort.

i was a music fanatic by that point.
i think it's unusual for ppl to focus on lyrics.
adults that aren't music snobs only care about the beat. nttatwwt.


>she was concerned b/c she understood the lyrics and had a
>pretty specific reaction to them since she was a single
>mother. LOL.
>
>on the other hand, i had no idea what the song was about and i
>didn't care. i loved the sound of the whole thing including
>the way MJ sang whatever the words. i couldn't have cared
>less what he was talking about. none of it made much sense to
>me since i didn't understand sex or nightclubs or infidelity
>or paternity.... and the song definitely didn't corrupt me.
>

... I'm filled with pride, although I cringe a little when he says "I wanna pound the poontang until it stinks".

I asked him if he knows what it means and he said it's kinda like hittin the blunt. I was a little relieved but still a little disturbed.

they see on tv or hear on the radio