Because of some decisions Troy and I made as parents from the get-go, Huck is now a seven year old kid slightly out of touch with his peers on most things pop culture.  We don’t have real cable, just a few basic channels, so he was denied the pleasures of Nikolodeon and Disney while instead getting small doses of PBS now and then.  Troy and I never watch our TV shows when he’s awake, so he hadn’t seen a real commericial until he discovered his beloved online physics games.  We don’t have a car which means we don’t have a radio which means we’re total idiots when it comes to knowing what songs are popular these days unless we’ve spent some time with Aunt Jeni.  And now that Huck’s in first grade it has become clear to him that he does not know what any of his classmates are talking or singing about most of the time.  Oh sure, he can sing Pete Seeger and Ella Fitzgerald, but what’s this “Dynamite” ditty his friends are always dancing to?

So our sweet little bubble has broken.  Our child is officially socialized and now begs for music that makes his old parents’ skin crawl.  We have to stop ourselves from sounding exactly like all the millions of parents over the last 60 years or so who have crinkled up their faces and screamed, “What is this awful music the kids are listening to nowadays!”

In summary, Huck’s classroom has a copy of a Kidz Bop CD wherein popular songs are cleaned up and remade to sound similar to the original.  They are learning dances to these songs and according to our sheltered little Amish-like child, he’s the only one in his class who doesn’t know every single lyric.  In an effort to win a real Mother of the Year Award, I went to itunes and purchased one of these “songs,” and finally just made a copy of the classroom CD.

There are no words to describe the difference between how Huck feels about this “music” and the soul rotting that is going on inside his parents.  Hopefully I will one day secretly capture on video the joyfully awkward dancing and singing along that these songs inspire, and you will understand why it’s worth it.