Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Being a parent is a trip, yo. I don’t know how else to start this, so I’ll just come in hot with it. There is nothing more awkward than sitting in a car with your teenager listening to the radio and a song you can’t turn off quick enough — because of its content — comes on that just makes the entire space uncomfortable.
Such was my life on a recent morning. But first, let’s take a brief step back. When my daughter (who is now the aforementioned teenager) was a little kid, I remember struggling to find appropriate music to listen to with her in the car. I didn’t want to listen to “Wheels On The Bus” a million times, so I toggled between finding kid-friendly songs that also happened to be bops and the gospel music radio station here in Washington, D.C. I really enjoy gospel and praise & worship jams so that often worked. As my daughter has gotten older, I typically would play songs that I wanted her to learn about from artists I loved. And of course, she’s developed her own musical tastes during that time.
On occasion, I let her control the music during the car rides so I can get an idea what she’s listening to. It’s quite interesting to see what your kids gravitate towards; she has tended to lean into some kind of emo-rock type stuff. All good. I also think it’s important to see what they’re listening to because, in a world of iPhones, headphones and streaming services, it’s entirely possible to never have a single solitary clue what they’re into, whereas my parents usually had to buy my CDs for me. Of course, I had a Walkman but the sheer breadth of music available to kids now far supersedes what I had at my disposal.
Let’s move this convo up to the present day. When I take my daughter to school in the…
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