Kids' iTunes Playlist Censure

This summer, I've allowed my son to use the laptop - mostly playing Gamehouse PC games or playing Restaurant City in Facebook. Though he's usually allowed year-round (during weekends when there's school) I'm giving him roughly an hour and a half to do what he wants given that I know what he's doing and no YouTube without my permission.  

Recently, I've noticed him frequently singing, asking me to play songs I have stored in my mobile phone or in my iPod or in the laptop's iTunes. Nope, not nursery rhymes dear friends! He's singing in tune of R&B and Pop songs! Saan ka pa? haha!

Anyway, I taught him to make his own iTunes playlist just so he won't mess with mine. I've seen him having trouble searching and searching each time he wants a specific song to be played so I thought why not give him ownership to a playlist with all the songs he like? I also taught him how to add songs and features like 'shuffle'.

Here's the big reveal - my six year old son with an iTunes playlist of his own has the following songs in it:


And now he's been asking me to play this playlist whenever he gets the chance. When his dad's home from work, he'd ask him to sing with him. M would gladly oblige and this has been a bonding moment for them. One time, W would ask us about the lyrics of Billionaire so M 'googled' it. He asked us who's Oprah and The Queen. haha!

W now 'googles' for song lyrics with my help (sometimes M). He has memorized most lyrics and has been asking me for the meaning of the words. Boom! There goes the problem.

I realized W is too young for songs like 'California Gurls' and almost all of the songs in his playlist. Too mature for him I believe. While the melody is good and I myself like all those songs, I feel that the meaning of those songs are not age-appropriate - which brings me in the middle of a parenting dilemma. 

I know I cannot stop him from listening to those songs because he can still hear it on the radio, in his cousins' PSP music player or just about anywhere. I think 'stopping' would not be a good idea so I had to think of something else. Nope, ignorance is not an option and I just can't let him do as he pleases while I turn a blind-eye over it. Think, think, think.

The 'most played' song in his playlist is Down by Jay Sean - may sound harmless but for me seems bordering on something sexual. The lyrics at first glance may be harmless, just a boy asking a girl to be herself but on my mind I'm getting something else. 

It dawned on me that all I had to do was tell him age-appropriately what all those songs are about. And that while all of them may sound good, some of the lyrics are 'uncool' and in a manner 'not expected to be heard from him' as a kid. So like in 'Down', all I told him was it's about a boy who likes a girl and he's asking her if she's okay to "go down" - for something serious like being in a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship. 

:: :: ::

Sometimes I feel I over-analyze things...like I'm pretty sure that just as long as my son doesn't know the underlying  meaning of "we'll melt your popsicle" in Katy Perry's California Gurls he'll be safe. But still, it all boils down to having everything exposed to our little ones at such a tender age. I don't want his mind be corrupted this early and as much as I can shield him from the craziness of the world. 

Gah! Censure for six-year olds...








Like this post? Click to Subscribe to The (Mis)Adventures of Superboink by Email

Xoxo,

Comments

ShareThis

Nuffnang Large Rectangle

Popular posts from this blog

Philippine Science High School 2013 NCE Results

Philippine Science High School NCE Application Now Ongoing

THE BATTLE OF THE CORNED TUNAS