Childhood Tunes.

The music we hear when we are young influences our whole life, and I can't help but smile when I hear one of those songs from when I was just a little kid. Mom always played Beethoven, Mozart, and more classical music, as well as some country music, and Disney soundtracks. But of course I dug out her music collection, and I remember the two CDs I could play repeatedly every single day and never get tired of: "Peter, Paul and Mommy too", by Peter, Paul and Mary, and "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles.

One thing I've noticed as I play those CDs again is that no matter how long it has been, I still can remember most of the lyrics. From observing other people, I see the same thing with them, while if we listen to a song now and try to remember the lyrics next week, it's not half as easy.

Given the importance of the childhood "soundtrack", so to say, it worries me what this generation has come to. I have observed kids around the age of seven using swear words at each other, practicing a level of cruelty that you'd never think a child could have, and listening to music that just seemed to worsen it. Children dancing to funk beats as if they were in a clothed orgy, sometimes even dressing in almost nothing and saying it's based off their favorite singer's look, and sometimes even engaging in sexual activities they've learned about through some songs. It seems a little excessive that all that would be influenced by music, but it's not only the tune, it's the content of the lyrics, the way who makes them behaves, and what the parents introduce to their children as music.

Of course, I'm not saying sexual music isn't music, and the styles I've mentioned above are classified as such, I'm not one to judge that. But it's not music for little kids. They need to be introduced to music that will actually contribute to something, or at least not demoralize them. That's my opinion on the subject.

-Kimberly