Raising Gaybies: The Music Man : Good Enough Mother

Raising Gaybies:
The Music Man

My husband hates Barney – and all the songs that emanate from that purple dinosaur’s mouth. If I hear Baby Beluga one more time, I am going to smash the radio. I know kids love music, but at some point, I want my cool music back. I really want to listen to “my” music when the kids are in the car. But my music has lyrics that are either too “adult” for little ears – or don’t have the melody for a 5-year-old. After all, so many articles talk about music and kids and its benefit – but how long I placate them with the A B C songs before it’s time to grow up and face the music. I mean even the most innocuous genre of music can have a deleterious impact on a child. Listen to country music and it’s all about getting cheated on, lied to or killed. So here is where the gay stereotype dove tails perfectly for everyone. BROADWAY!

Yes, I have flooded my iPhone with Broadway tunes from Oklahoma to Gypsy. My kids are loving these Broadway tunes, like Judy Holliday songs from the musical “Bells are Ringing”, to Julie Andrews belting out “I have confidence” from the Sound of Music: or the legendary (my personal favorite-don’t judge) Ethel Merman singing in “Doin’ what comes naturally” from Annie Get your Gun. Even “Raise you up” from the recent Broadway hit “Kinky Boots” is a winner with the kids. Gregory was so inspired by the song – he drew this picture about the musical (which he did not see). This week, the kids discovered the musical Annie. In fact Gregory, our 5-year-old sings, “The sun will come out tomorrow” – day and night.

It’s probably not a coincidence that when I was a young kid in New York City, I saved up enough money to take my mom to see “Dreamgirls” on Broadway – front row orchestra with the original cast. Again, don’t judge.

I know – some people will say… “Oh showtunes and he’s gay – how fitting.” But I say when your kids are listening to Kanye West’s music about him butt humping his megalomaniac soon-to-be wife on a motorcycle – my kids are tuning into Dick Van Dyke flying over the White Cliffs of Dover in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Oh, and by the way… who do you think is the better role model and has words the kids can use safely in everyday language – Kanye or Dick? That’s right, I like Dick… Van Dyke, that is..

What about you? What music do you let your kids listen to in the car?

Bennett Cunningham is a Bankruptcy Attorney licensed in Texas and is a former investigative reporter for KTVT (CBS station) in Dallas. Bennett has garnered 7 Regional Emmy Awards, including the Best Investigative Reporter in Texas 2 years in a row, as well as several National Awards for his exposés into the mismanagement of taxpayer dollars and government waste. Bennett is also admitted to practice in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas and the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney’s and the American Bar Association – and most importantly, a stay-at-home dad.