DISCLAIMER!!! Im in a weird mood. This is a weird post. If you aren't ready to dive into my mind - go back to facebook and do something else. :)
Music is considered evil (laughable) and some is "bad" for our youth's ears. Music teaches us to be bad people. Music leads us to commit crimes. Music causes murder. Music causes suicide. Music teaches men to mistreat women. Can you guess which of those are just not true? All of them.
Music is important. Music I believe calms the soul. Music can be very therapeutic. Music is art. Music is a form of love. Music is expression, style and talent. Some is full of "bad" words - by the way, who decided what makes a bad word? Who are these people that they're so uneducated about what is, and what isn't, in the world of music? Why am I talking about music you wonder.
Since before Mia was born, I always wondered what kind of mother I would be. Would I be that overprotective, naive mom who shelters her kids from everything around us? Would I be the chill but protective mom who lets her kids explore freely? Turns out I'm a mix of both, and maybe a little extra. I'm a momma grizzly that can bake you a cake, or put you in the ground. I prefer to bake a cake though.
I often refer to the way I was raised when I come up with these questions. Well, I went to my first concert when I was 4, seeing Heart. I was pulled out of class in the 5th grade to see Queensryche, and 6th grade to go see Ozzy. My parents later let me go to rap concerts in distant cities. They briefly put up a fight over my music in my early teens, hating my hard core gangster rap like 2 Pac, Dr. Dre and Three 6 Mafia. I only learned how to hide things better. They learned that you can't change the music a person listens to.
I don't want my kids to have to hide their music. I cringe at the sound of country and jazz, but if it's their flavor I hope that I can be happy that they discovered the love of their own style all on their own. So no, I don't hide music from the girls. They listen to everything from my husbands country to my favorite, often angry, yet poetic Polish band Closterkeller. They can hang with Bach and 2 Pac. They ask for the music to be turned up, and then they dance their little hearts out! Who would miss such a thing?
Mark and I have decided that we would much rather introduce things to our girls as they come up, then for them to learn about it from someone else. If you shelter them from everything, they have a much higher chance of not being able to properly cope with things that come their way. It mirrors a lot of past lottery winners. They were either dirt poor or just making it and then all the sudden they have millions of dollars. They're ALL broke. They were never taught how to manage money properly because they never had it - and when they finally get it, they spend it all within about five years. Most of them end up being in major debt and some have even gone to prison for tax evasion.
I find myself pausing before I answer some of Mia's questions. I want to be honest with my girls. Where do babies come from? Sorry dear but they don't come from Heaven, or storks. They come from when a man and women love each other so they sleep together. That's what I was told. Why can't I tell my kids that? It's the truth isn't it? Why should I sugar coat, or mislead my kids when it comes to simple or not so simple facts of life? We aren't in the 50's anymore, and I wish more people would agree with me that being honest with kids when it comes to serious questions, is the best thing a parent can do. Don't throw the bible at them, don't wait for them to learn it in school - or even worse - their friends or their parents. Be the parent! Be and honest parent. I work hard at preparing myself for some tough years ahead but if I can be honest with my girls from the beginning, in theory it shouldn't be a problem right? Ha!
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