So the girls and I are on the ride home from work/school. My nine year old has commandeered the front seat. (I know she should probably sit in the back seat for safety’s sake, but I always loved riding up front with my mom and I let her. I do make her push the seat a far back as it goes. I didn’t have the air bag danger in my days in the front seat.) And the reason she wants to sit up front? To be closer to her dear ole Mom? Not likely. She wants control of the music.
When her dad’s is in the van with us, he is in charge of our listening pleasures. She has to listen to the music he likes (currently he’s in a Stray Cats retro period), which unfortunately is not what kind of music she likes. When it comes to music, I’m not a totalitarian as he is. I don’t mind listening to the tween music she’s into. I like most kinds of music (except maybe recorder music played by the above mentioned fourth-grader, but that’s another story). While Taylor Swift, Bella Thorne, Zendaya, Carrie Underwood, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus aren’t at the top of my play lists, I have to admit they have some catchy tunes that stick in your head for the rest of the day. If the music makes her happy and smiley, then I’m happy and smiley. So I know the lyrics to Mean, and TTYLXOX and Good Girl. We sing along and rock it out. It’s not such a bad thing. In fact many a day, I’ve found myself humming along to her music and realize she’s not even in the car with me — I just hadn’t remembered to change the station after dropping her off.
My preschooler also knows to the lyrics these songs as well. I never really thought much about that fact until the other day. You see we are also into the wii game, “Just Dance” we have 1, 2 and 3. Although I wouldn’t want anyone I know to actually see me playing this game, its kind of fun. And so my fourth-grader has moved up in her musical tastes to “artists” like lmfao and Katie Perry and Kei$ha. I never thought much about the words of these songs as mostly I’m concentrating on the next move in the dance and not falling on my butt.
So when my five-year old started singing about “a bottle of Jack” I started to think maybe the music was a little bit old for the girls. Nah, I wasn’t going to turn into a music censor. If I say she can’t listen to it, she’ll want to listen to it all the more. I remember when my parents and teachers had fit when we listened to “Jack and Diane” – he put his hands between her knees you know. Or worse George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex.” I remember my mother cringing everytime that one came on. However, I admit I had to pause when she then asked me what “passion in your pants” means. I decided maybe we needed to reassess the play list. I tried to ignore the question. Act like I hadn’t heard her. But she is persistent. “Mom, what’s passion in your pants?” Then the nine-year old chimed in, “Yeah, what does that mean?”
“Ahhhhh….I’m not really sure.” I get out.
The preschooler asks, “Is it some kind of bug?”
“Umm, maybe?” I dodge the question. I’m so not ready for that talk. “I think he just likes to dance and the pants he has on.”
“OK” she’s satisfied and moves on to some other question.
Hmmmm. Maybe we should just stick with the Stray Cats…
What do you think?
Undaunted 
I Googled “passion in my pants” when my ten-year old came home singing it. They are exposed to all sorts of negative pop culture when they are not with me, so I think it’s important to make the most of the little time I have. If that makes me a music censor, then so be it. This is how I dealt with it: he was not curious at all as to what the words meant, so I took it upon myself to ask him what he thought it meant. Since he had no idea, I then asked him “what is inside your pants?” after a brief exchange, we concluded that this is a song about “private parts” and he was properly horrified. Lol!! Now I can’t get the silly tune out of my own head!!!
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I didn’t even think to google it. My sister explained it to my ten year old (when my 5 year old wasn’t around) when it came on the radio. She has twin boys the same age as my daughter. All three were equally horrified.
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This is too funny. We have Just Dance, too. I have been struggling with the whole lyrics business and what’s appropriate. They like Lady Gaga, too, but I have to go over all the songs first.
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They haven’t found her yet:)
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