One of the most annoying things of being a stay-at-home parents is the inevitable fact that a.) kiddie tunes are catchy and easy to remember, and b.) your kids will listen to a lot of them. Even with limited TV intake, most of what will be watched is going to be saturated with cutesy little songs, and in the age of cheap and plentiful electronics, many toys for kids have their own catchy tunes.
You can. not. get. them. out. of. your. head.
I have lost count of the days when I had an endless loop of the Doodlebop song, a Baby Signing Time tune, or the ABC song from Quinn's little Alphabet Train Station playing in my head all day long. It's enough to slowly and surely chip away at parental sanity, more so than any number of poopy diapers or wall murals painted with momentarily unattended samples of diaper rash cream.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Gummi earworms.
Marko on one of the little-known hazards of parenting:
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10 comments:
He's right. I was standing at the mailbox in the Accounting department a couple weeks ago, sorting through the fliers and other junk mail (it's not just people, businesses get them, too).
While standing there I was very softly singing the "here's the mail" tune from the children's show Blue's Clues.
Not softly enough, however. One of the accountants, herself a parent of young children, looked up and asked me if I was singing the song from Blue's Clues. Busted. I told her I blame the voices.
I have experienced this problem myself, as a stay-at-home dad. Try singing the first few lines of an old song with lyrics so standardized that they will remove the newer song from the front of your brain, such as "Dixie." Works for me.
"I wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten. Look away, look away, look away, Dixieland."
When my boys were toddlers, I had my own private, internal lyrics for the Barney song (which uses Yankee Doodle as the melody):
Barney is a dinosaur
From our imagination
I'd like to kick him in the balls
And smash his silly face in
Hey, if you're get that stupid music stuck in your head, at least you can have some fun with it.
Wonderpets. Fiendishly clever.
Gah - I can't decide if I want to strangle Lorie Berkner or try to get her into a wild three way with my wife.
Or both.
Hey there Yogi Bear - a couple Krispies boxtops and I had the 45, played it over and over on the HiFi - aspergers at age six.
I've got all ya'll beat. I used to work for Radio Disney. One WHOLE YEAR of that crap piped into the office. And I don't have any kids yet. Every now and again the wife will catch me singing a tune or two.
I know the pain. Years ago when I was after hours tech support for a local ISP, I was stuck being daycare for my then-toddler niece. I found this song from the C.O.G. to be most helpful...
Oldsmoblogger, I hate you now.
Don't let your kids discover Yo Gabba Gabba. Not only will the songs get stuck in your head, but the visuals will destroy your mind.
Chris (parent of a 4yo).
I think Jeff is in hiding right about now. The job change and the demands of getting up Chapter 10 of his Blog Novel Colony Alchibah at Alchibah.com has, combined with the number of submissions to the People of the Gun has made him run for cover.
As one of the ink stained wretches writing on Alchibah I can say that when he missed last Sunday's deadline he promised us to send a weapon at his expense to hunt him down.
I wish him well but he better watch his six.
Ralphe
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