Kidz Bop

This is me.

I was 7ish (?)

It was Christmas and I got a walkman. The worlds first portable music player. The precurser to the Ipod.

The. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

Besides me - because I was obviously very, very cool. Look at the adoration in my baby sisters eyes if you don't believe me.

My dad taught me all about music when I was very young.

He had widely varied tastes - everything from the Beatles to Def Leopard.

.38 Special, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, The Moody Blues, Elton John, The Police, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Elvis, John Mellencamp, The Eagles...

I could go on all day!

He loves to drive, too. Every vacation was a road trip - we never flew. Sunday afternoons we "took a ride" and listened to them all.

He passed that love of music on to me.

I remember when I was in high school - a sophomore - hanging out with a group of people and getting into a "deep" discussion about music with one of the guys.

I told my dad after - thank you for teaching me about music - I knew more than this boy did because of you!

He said it was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to him.

My children have inherited that love of music.

Tessa has her own Ipod - a shuffle. We gave it to her almost 2 years ago and she loves it - listens to it often and is always asking me "mom, can you put this song on my ipod?" when she hears something she likes. My neighbor is always telling me how funny it is to hear Tessa singing Christina Aguilara or Rhianna in the backyard on her swing set.

Asher is only 3 and already talking about music constantly. Tessa shares her headphones with him sometimes - he calls it his "aw-pod"

The kids have varied tastes, too. Tessa's favorite songs are A Whole New World (from Aladdin) Jessies Girl (from Rick Springfield) and Beat It (from the late great Michael Jackson.)

Asher goes nuts for Life is a Highway - he calls it the Cars song (from the movie,) but I downloaded the original Tom Cochrane version - not the Rascal Flatts twang.

He also loves Livin' La Vida Loca - he calls it "locas" and Sweet Home Alabama, which is pronounces "alnevada"

Tessa has a Disney music CD with songs from The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, etc on it.

But I can't listen to that in the car - it's just for her to listen to in her bedroom.

We listen to music around the house all the time - I plug my Nano into the surround sound and we dance and sing all day.

I make sure that the music they listen to isn't too risque, but I don't edit it. I figure they're going to hear it eventually - why make a big deal out of it?

They beg for the same songs so often that I finally put together a Kid CD for them.

I have a 6 disc changer in my truck, so I keep it in all the time and let them listen to at least one song each every time we go anywhere.

It's not your traditional kid music - but neither are those terrible Kidz Bop CDs they advertise during morning cartoons.

The tracks crack me up, especially because Asher has memorized the order and when he sees the number on the display yells out what song is going to be on.

The track list

1. Life is a Highway - Tom Cochrane

2. Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield

3. Livin La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin

4. How Far We've Come - Matchbox 20

5. Life is a Highway (and not a moment too soon, either! He's always asking for more of this one!)

6. Nothing in the World - Paris Hilton

7. Beat It - Michael Jackson

8. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Sknard

Songs we can ALL live with and sing along to.

Though I'm starting to hear Life is a Highway in my sleep. It may be burned into my ear drums.