I was de-cluttering the other day, and found an ipod nano in the closet. I don't really have time to listen to music anymore, and thought it'd be nice to give to my 8.5yo son to use instead of the listening to the radio, which he's been doing more (blegh)...
So, can anyone give me suggestions on music I can put on the nano that he might enjoy, that is clean and age appropriate? I have no clue! TIA!
I appreciate the responses, and thought I'd add my thoughts... Thanks for the musician suggestions. I've been listening to a few when I have time to see if we can add to a list I've created of "acceptables."
While I understand that children will be exposed to things no matter what, we strive to push off those exposures until our children are mature enough to handle the content they're faced with. So, this is why we've decided to get our 8yo an ipod. We're tired of having to tell our son to change the radio station or turn it off because the DJ's (mainly) and music are explicit and suggestive. At least with the ipod we can sit down and look for music together, and filter out the junk before it's already there in front of him.
That said, no one in our house can stand the Kids Bop stuff (sorry!), and my son has always disliked children "choir" style singing--even when he was a toddler, so most of the child oriented music is out. We are also not very religious, so Christian music and radio isn't on our list. We have very eclectic tastes in music (although outdated), so our kids are exposed to everything from Metallica to Vivaldi to The Beatles--but only the non-explicit, non-suggestive songs.
Sooo, so far I've half loaded my old ipod with my son's favorite Beatles and Grateful Dead, the Naruto soundtrack (instrumental--and no, he's never watched it, but the soundtrack rocks), and a few They Might Be Giants. We'll be giving him the ipod with a docking station/alarm clock since we don't want him blowing his hearing out with head phones just yet, LOL. Oh, and a small gift card so we can sit with him and let him pick a few songs to add too.
I'd ask him what he likes.
Then go online and look up the lyrics. If you think the aren't appropriate, there may be an option: sometimes there are "clean" versions on iTunes.
My kids have all kinds of music on their iPods. They have everything from classical to techno. They tend to like music without words. You might also think about what movies he likes and get the music from the movies.
YMMV
LBC
We're a Christian family here so we listen to alot of Steven Curtis Chapman, A. Grant, 5th Ave. North, etc. We also love the Veggie Tales. We discovered Laurie Berkner several years back via Noggin (I believe) and the girls have been hooked to her ever since. HTH
Well, I listen to Christian music with the kids. 94.9fm klty has some great selections. Toby Mac is one of our favs. Stuff that's also fun is the Beatles.
They Might Be Giants has some great kid's music. "Here Comes Science" is a wonderful CD that I actually enjoy listening to as an adult. Other titles are "Here Come the ABC's", "Here Come the 123's" and "No". Recess Monkey and Justin Roberts are other artists who appeal to kids. You can see many of the videos on YouTube to see if he might like them. Some of them may be too young for him. My 4 year old loves listening to all kinds of music from classical to reggae to country to rap. We are careful though about the language in the music and if there is a song with many naughty words, we talk about how those words are not appropriate to say and discourage our son from listening to that song. I love RileyJ's post and agree that you should find what's great for you and your family. I also think exposing him to all kinds of music from all genres and eras is a great idea.
Go to Klove.com and they have the album that is playing at the moment. It is all Christian.
Mine is 9 and can sing all of Casting Crowns, Toby MAc he;s huge in our house, Steven Curtis Chapman.
Also mine lilkes the instrumentals from Harry Potter, Narnia, Star Wars, those Hobbit movies with Frodo
He likes the oldies station that plays 70's and 80's pop.
Disney Show tunes
Celtic Women
Beach music from the 60's (like Beach Boys and Jan and Dean) and musicals. Kids love story songs. You might try some jazz and big band too.
beach boys. You can also download books to listen to. At 8 he should know multiplication, theres a song for that too.
ITUNES offers clean versions on almost all songs. Also if you are buying the songs it will say whether it has explicit lyrics. Rather than give an 8 year old an IPOD though I would let him listen to the radio, he doesn't even probably know what he likes and music adds up $$ quickly. There is a great online site called Pandora that lets you listen to 30 hours a month free I think. You get to program it to your taste so if he likes a certain artist it will play similar sounding music, you can "like" a song or "dislike" a song, you can even create your own multiple stations...it is a great way for anyone to find something new to listen too. My daughter is 10, she likes to listen to old 80's pop, she likes Taylor Swift and we listen to something called Radio Disney that plays music from Disney movies. I will say that surprisingly a lot of the new Christian pop is very easy to listen to, they are really trying to reach teens with music with a message. Lots of luck!
B.
Hi Mama-
What kind of music does he like? When I was 8 I liked U2 (their older stuff like Joshua Tree, etc), the Newsboys, and of course my mom's rock n roll, which is ancient to kids now.
Now, because I work for a church I really focus on clean lyrics. My favorites are Muse, DragonForce, Red (christian), John Butler Trio, Cold Play, Radio Head, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, some Ben Harper, some Amos Lee, Flatfoot 56, The Gorillaz, Jack Johnson,Shawn McDonald, The Postal Service, and I have heard great things about Starlight (I think that's what it's called). Even if you are not a fan of Christian music, it is safe and has a positive message for your kids.(the list goes on and on and on--my hubby is a musician and a music junky). Red is definitely heavier, metal like music, but my momma was a Janis Joplin fan along with other craziness like Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, etc. I don't remember the lyrics to alot of those, but I do remember loving a good beat. Musical soundtracks like The Jungle Book. Any movie he loves, try listening to the soundtrack or theme songs. Also, classical music that isn't typical, like Debussy, anything celtic, native american flute, etc. Oh, the Wicked Tinkers is a drum and pipe band that plays at our scottish festival every year, and they are great. Most of their music is instrumental -- I suggest not purchasing the song wallop the cat, however, you can purchase them from itunes individually, so skip that song (it's traditional, but it's somewhat raunchy in it's meaning) and let him enjoy the rest. There is alot of good music out there. I say, plan a trip to barnes and noble or borders with him (or an hour or 2 in front of itunes with him) and start listening to music samples. You might get a few duds, but you will also get some winners. Good luck!
-E. M
you didn't ask for this opinion but I am going to give it anyway lol. don't give him the ipod just yet. let him listen to the radio which I know is a pain but you know what he is listening to. it will happen soon enough that you have little to know control over what they listen to. let him be young for a while longer before going all electronic.
A., I asked my 7-9 y/o grandchildren for input and this is what they said. The theme songs of the shows they like, anything Veggie Tales, and all the Disney theme songs which is great. They also said they liked the favorite bible story songs they like.
Hope that you get lots of help.
Any of the Kids Bop CDs...they have popular songs sung by kids...or soundtracks from PG or G movies
there is Radio Disney and Kids Bop and they have all the latest and greatest hits but sung by kids and only the clean version songs as well. My son loves it. Also, Justin Bieber is pretty Kool. Myle Cyrus and Selena Gomez and the Camp Rock and High School Musical songs!!
He doesn't need an ipod at 8, and he will develop his own musical taste in due time. You won't be able to choose for him, or "shelter" him from what's out there. Just expose him to as many kinds of good music as you can, talk with him about why you object to music that is not "clean and age appropriate," and sell the ipod. Give him some good books instead.
I agree with the moms who suggest you postpone giving him the ipod. Soon enough your darling 8.5 yo will be a not so darling teenager rolling eyes at you and using the ipod ear buds to tune you out and pretent he/she didn't hear you tell them to do their homework and chores.
Our family has one of those combination radio/CD players that mounts under the kitchen cabinets. We turn it on to KLOVE (christian radio) and have that as background music to our dinner prep and homework, or in more unstructured times, to just sing along and dance.
Headphones are so isolating. At the very least, postpone giving it to him until Christmas or a birthday, and then structure a way for him to earn money on an itunes account to download from, so this way he also gets the lessons associated with budgeting, making selective purchases, being responsible for paying for his music, etc.
You can get Kidz Bop CD's on ITunes. It's the songs you hear on the radio but sung by kids. That's the only music I allow my kids to listen to besides the station we listen to on the radio which is Radio U. All clean music.
