Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Old-style morality or new-age parenting?

Of late, my daughter has been picking up quite a few English songs... so, what's wrong with that? Maybe nothing. Maybe I'm paranoid. Maybe I don't want her to grow up fast. Maybe I want her to be just my little girl, forever! Maybe I don't want to go through the trauma of explaining the meaning of a few lyrics to her...

The reasons are plenty, and my logic very idiotic! But, perhaps, if you know why I am acting so funny you may even sympathize with me! For one, it's not those cutesy songs for little girls like Cuppycake or Crazy Frog, or Sound of Music melodies that little S sings. She goes on crooning I'm a Barbie girl with all its wacky-weird lyrics :(... my heart does many extra, fast beats whenever she goes "You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere... imagination, life is your creation"!

Oh God, what am I to tell her? How can I divert her attention to something else? I tried making her listen to Boney M numbers like Mary's boy child, and Abba songs too, but in vain. Of all the songs by Abba, she picks up (besides Money money money and Dancing queen) Mama Mia, S.O.S, and Honey honey. And the least I speak of Boney M, the better... apart from Rasputin and Ma Baker, she doesn't have patience for any other song.

Now, what do you tell a smart seven-year-old who sings Beat it or Thriller, and finds Boney M and Abba "too slow"? Cheaters, love machines, and killers are what/who she likes?! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! God save me, and paranoid parents like me... Just the other day I was horrified to discover that she is humming Shakira's Whenever wherever, and immediately deleted it from my playlist. Thankfully, she didn't catch the lyrics too well to sing along!!

But why am I acting like the moral police? I've no clue. Errrrrrrr, I guess it runs in my family. I remember my mom whacking me on a few occasions when I crooned Bhale bhale mogadivoy (Maro Charitra), Sirimalle puvva (Padaharella Vayasu) and Aresukoboyi (Adavi Ramudu) - I was just four then (three years younger than S currently is and with a quarter of her mental capabilities) and I had no clue what the lyrics meant... though I must admit that when I was listening to these songs a couple of days ago and mom walked in for lunch, I turned a deep red and quickly closed the window as I felt rather shy to admit (even now) that I listen to these songs.

At 35, I'm still worried what my mom would think of me if I listen to "dirty" songs. I wonder what would be her reaction if I post these songs on FB or use them as my status msgs in GTalk... Will she whack me even now?

As for me, I'm caught between old-fashioned morality and new-age parenting! I certainly don't want to whack little S for singing risque songs. But I also want her to stop singing Barbie girl right now... Is this some new definition of a cool parent where I want 'to be' and 'not to be' as well? I've no solution yet but I'm sure I'll come up with an innovative answer to this dichotomy, and my own social-cum-moral dilemma!!

2 comments:

nutty said...

You are lucky that she just sings the songs, unlike the question she posed me the other day, "nanna what is bigamy" after watching Mamma Mia. How do you answer that?

Usha said...

lol, how did u reply to that question, serish? I'm really curious. Sriram should tell S about the crazy lyrics he invented for MJ songs as a kid cos he couldn't figure out the original lyrics. If you stop her she'll sing them all the more; she's sure to get bored of them soon :)