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Oh the horror that has been revisited upon my sister and I by the above mentioned oracle. As children there were few things my sister and I loathed more than being woken by my mother on a school day. Interestingly enough, we both enjoyed school a great deal. Both of us were also genetically blessed with the ability to wake up and be one hundred percent ourselves within moments of shrugging off a good night's sleep. There was only one reason we dreaded morning, and one reason alone.
Every. Single. Day.
The song was inescapable. I recall the first summer my sister and I were sent to summer camp. We were ecstatic, and in no small part because we were certain being woken by revelry, which we expected would be infinitely more pleasant than The Song. It is not possible to describe the disappointment when we heard a recording, broadcast over the loudspeaker for the entire camp at 7:30AM "GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MOOOOORNING . . . "
Granted, we had no kids singalong songs on DVD during those days as DVDs hadn't been invented. Patience; I said 're-visited' for a reason, and this is my story. We'll get there.
The Song
Our mother was 4 feet 10 inches, and ninety-eight pounds of classical operatic joy. If you are classically trained, you will appreciate this fact, she was a true, pure soprano capable of reaching a full and round G above high C with a vibrato that could shatter glass!
Famous musicians tried for as long as I can remember to convince my mother to move to Nashville, or New York, or accompany them on tour, but she was content to stay home and raise her family, gracing us, her beloved children, with the unbridled joy of her angelic serenades - even at the unholy hour of before-God-thirty on a Tuesday morning, whether we liked it or not.
Some mothers sing their children to sleep. Ours sung us awake, in full voice as she skipped up the hallways of our home, flinging on light switches and mercilessly stripping blankets from our heads.
"GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MOOOOOR-NING IT'S TIME TO RISE AND SHINE GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MOOOOOR-NING I HOPE YOU'RE FEELING FINE..."
As all kids will, we eventually grew up, moved away from home, and vowed to one another a sacred vow, never to speak of (or sing), The you-know-what again. Then, in an obvious fit of maniacal instability, I poked Fate with a sharp, pointy stick by having children of my own. Not that the event or results thereof are evil, simply that it led to evils. We are a musical family, I'm sure you can tell, so DVDs of singalong songs became our own musical staples. I was careful to point my daughter to 'Silly Songs With Larry' and other sacred children's music from artists like They Might Be Giants.
Enter My Daughter's Internet Proclivity
There is no justice.I will spare you the horror the day she called me to her room and declared "Look Daddy - it's an old cartoon. The kind people actually drew like when you were little!" She'd found an old video that had apparently been converted from VHS tape to some kind of DVD format, and on it was a famous singing kid's cartoon character named Psalty. The name was taken from the Psalms in the Bible, many of which were actually songs. Someone had loaded Psalty onto YouTube, and right there along with rabbits and trees and dandelions against a panoramic sunrise, he was leading kids in a chorus of you guessed it,
Every. Single. Day.
The song was inescapable. I recall the first summer my sister and I were sent to summer camp. We were ecstatic, and in no small part because we were certain being woken by revelry, which we expected would be infinitely more pleasant than The Song. It is not possible to describe the disappointment when we heard a recording, broadcast over the loudspeaker for the entire camp at 7:30AM "GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MOOOOORNING . . . "
Granted, we had no kids singalong songs on DVD during those days as DVDs hadn't been invented. Patience; I said 're-visited' for a reason, and this is my story. We'll get there.
The Song
Our mother was 4 feet 10 inches, and ninety-eight pounds of classical operatic joy. If you are classically trained, you will appreciate this fact, she was a true, pure soprano capable of reaching a full and round G above high C with a vibrato that could shatter glass!
Famous musicians tried for as long as I can remember to convince my mother to move to Nashville, or New York, or accompany them on tour, but she was content to stay home and raise her family, gracing us, her beloved children, with the unbridled joy of her angelic serenades - even at the unholy hour of before-God-thirty on a Tuesday morning, whether we liked it or not.
Some mothers sing their children to sleep. Ours sung us awake, in full voice as she skipped up the hallways of our home, flinging on light switches and mercilessly stripping blankets from our heads.
"GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MOOOOOR-NING IT'S TIME TO RISE AND SHINE GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MOOOOOR-NING I HOPE YOU'RE FEELING FINE..."
As all kids will, we eventually grew up, moved away from home, and vowed to one another a sacred vow, never to speak of (or sing), The you-know-what again. Then, in an obvious fit of maniacal instability, I poked Fate with a sharp, pointy stick by having children of my own. Not that the event or results thereof are evil, simply that it led to evils. We are a musical family, I'm sure you can tell, so DVDs of singalong songs became our own musical staples. I was careful to point my daughter to 'Silly Songs With Larry' and other sacred children's music from artists like They Might Be Giants.
Enter My Daughter's Internet Proclivity
There is no justice.I will spare you the horror the day she called me to her room and declared "Look Daddy - it's an old cartoon. The kind people actually drew like when you were little!" She'd found an old video that had apparently been converted from VHS tape to some kind of DVD format, and on it was a famous singing kid's cartoon character named Psalty. The name was taken from the Psalms in the Bible, many of which were actually songs. Someone had loaded Psalty onto YouTube, and right there along with rabbits and trees and dandelions against a panoramic sunrise, he was leading kids in a chorus of you guessed it,
About the Author:
All joking aside, kid's music is as vitally important to their Spiritual health as play and exercise are to their physical wellbeing. Invest in them musically, they will never forget it. I dug around a little and found some excellent Children's Music titles at a couple online Christian bookstores, and at great prices! It's up to you to redirect your child's attention away from the "S" word. God's favour on you!
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