Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Music and My Children
The video for Grandpa Gaga made me smile. It made me think of my children and their love for music and dancing. Music has always been a huge part of our family’s life and something that my children have taken on as well.
It is always there in the background, throughout the happy, sad or angry moments it flows throughout the house. If you watch us you will see that even when we are focused on a project it is not unusual to see our lips moving as we silently sing along to the music of the moment.
In the good old days before school their exposure to music was limited to whatever mom or dad liked. Though our tastes are fairly diverse you didn’t hear Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus playing. There weren’t any boy bands or sugar coated pop music.
But some of that has changed. My daughter wanders around singing or dancing to Party In The USA and Bad Romance. So now I find myself paying attention to their music and listening to the lyrics. I ask the dark haired beauty if she has seen the videos for these songs and she says no, but I am not convinced. She tells me that she has heard some of these songs at school or on play dates.
So I sit down and think about it, wonder how I feel. I am not the over protective father and I am not the guy who jumps up and down screaming for everyone to wear a sweater because I am cold. I watch the dark haired beauty sing and dance and I smile.
She is cute, this girl of mine. She likes it when I dance with her, hasn’t realized that dad doesn’t have rhythm for anything other than slow dancing and two stepping. The girl doesn’t understand all of the lyrics- she enjoys the music and the beat. But as I watch her I see a girl who floats between dancing like a six year old and someone who is older.
I wonder if it is just my imagination or is she trying to move her hips a bit. It makes me a little bit uncomfortable. I am a 41 year old man who has always had a very healthy appreciation for girls and I can’t help but think that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
And though it is a double standard I worry more about my daughter than my son. I know how single minded of purpose boys can be and how easy it is to say what someone wants to hear. And then I shake my head and say that she is going to be six in a few weeks, this is ridiculous talk.
She dresses appropriately for her age. She acts like a little girl because she is one. With a sigh and a shrug I decide to take it day by day- not going to freak out about it. If I find out that she is actually watching inappropriate videos than someone will hear from me, but no reason to do that now. She sings God Bless the USA as often as she sings anything else so we’ll watch and see what happens.
There is nothing better than being a father, but damn if it is not one concern it is another.
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