My friend is a big metalhead and we got on the discussion of whether loud music affects children. He listens to pretty extreme metal with his son in the car and it seems like he doesn't mind the cacophony of sound.
On the other hand, I have family members that immediately stopped listening to certain genres of music once they had their kids fearing irreparable damage to their psyche or something.
Did any of you change your music listening habits once you had kids? Are you still bumping Three 6 Mafia or have you moved onto Kidz Bop?
Re: Listening to music around your kids
When I was a kid, my cousin and I would play in her parents basement while listening to the Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits tape on repeat. The closest I ever got to listening to kids music on a regular basis was a Chipmunks album from the 80's and a Kids Incorporated album, both for my Fisher Price record player.
And now I want to listen to White Zombie.
Usually I wait until Fall to start listening to them because their music goes much better with cool weather and Halloween. However, Astro Creep is calling my name.
Mini disclaimer: see ticker below for length of our parenting experience.
I plan on playing a lot of classic rock, 80's pop/new wave, and then gradually sprinkling in a little metal here and there to test the waters. The first onesie that my wife bought, to announce she was pregnant, was of my favorite metal band. So I guess eventually we'll see if he's a fan of Polish death metal :P
I love rap music and some old rock. I think once my son is here though I will tone it down and burn a few Bob Marley CD's to play around him. Only positive music and influences around his consciousness as much as I can. Dr. Masaru Emoto showed a study with water crystals n how they change structure negatively or positively given the music or words expressed towards them. Very cool. Google or Youtube his name. It's relevant because what are we made of?.....
Positive vibes only!
Start with the Swedish death metal, it is much better.
We don't listen to a ton of music in the house, so the bulk of his music exposure (outside of what is played while we watch TV) comes from the radio, so most of it is pretty tame. Neither my wife, nor myself listen to hardcore rap and I go further into the heavier music than my wife does, but I won't put on Pantera, Slipknot, etc. with my son around (I have to be in a mood to listen to them anyways). He gets a fair dose of Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, etc. off the radio station I listen to, but about the hardest he gets exposed to is Metallica, which my oldest liked in the womb and doesn't seem to mind now. I say he liked it in the womb because at 10 every night they have "Mandatory Metallica" where they play 3 in a row from them, usually with a commercial break after the 1st two songs. He would kick like crazy when the Metallica was on, then go quiet for the commercials and start kicking as soon as Metallica came back on. Only did it for Metallica. That being said, we have a collection of kids CDs that get played in the car as well, and my new(er) car has a DVD system in it, so sometimes, on longer trips, he watches movies instead of listening to music.
Most definitely a +1
Any kind of metal is cool with me. Swedish, death, black, hair, power, speed, thrash, new wave of British...I am a fan of all metal genre's.
A local station here also has mandatory Metallica at 10 PM. I didn't know it's a thing in other states. Nonetheless, it's never too early for your child to become a fan of "Orion."
My wife has reported him saying "Off to never never land" during Enter Sandman.
Can a lurking mom post a reply? I hope you guys are not offended by me intruding. I sometimes lurk this board when the drama gets to be too much on the 3rd trimester board.
I HATE kids music. Barney, the Wiggles, and Kidz Bop make me want to punch someone in the throat. I will not let my boys listen to that. Would they like it if I let them listen to it? Probably, but we'll never know. I am careful about explicit lyrics and the loud volume. Don't want to damage their hearing. They can do that on their own when they're teens. There is plenty of adult music out there is kid appropriate. My boys are 5 and 1. They listen to the Beatles, CCR, Oasis, U2, some Doors, some Rolling Stones. They love it. Even the little one grunts along to the music. So yeah some change (can't listen to Pitbull in front of them), but not to the extreme either.
Hahaha! Sorry lurking from the SAHM board since it is broken.