Songs from Inside the Radio - Greasy Kids Stuff

A compilation from a US kids radio show. The 2 opening tracks are cool surf-rock (mostly) instrumentals, but after that ... well there's the occasional decent tune (including one from indie rock icons Yo La Tengo) but most of them are ok at best, and some are really really terrible.

Singable songs for the very young - Raffi

This is one of my favourite kids albums ever - everything is really really simple but it's so well put together and performed it's just really enjoyable. Plus it has the added advantage that the songs are super easy to learn - at Isabelle's birthday party recently all the kids were dancing like crazy to me singing "Willoughby Wallaby Woo". Best audience I ever had.

Buy it, and other classic kids CDs, now at www.kids-tunes.com

Oxbridge Baby nursery rhymes

I'm normally dead set against programmed rather than played music, but this is actually not bad even though it sounds like chunks of it have been programmed. The arrangements are pretty interesting - there's a kind of reggae-ish version of Mary Had A Little Lamb right at the start, followed by a faintly jazzy Little Bo Peep, and it goes on in that genre-hopping vein.

The sound is ultra-clean, and the singers sound like BBC children's tv presenters - all of which kinda puts me off - but it's pretty decent nevertheless.

the Instruction Manual

I remember when my husband and I were first married, we had all of these high ideals of what life as a parent would be like. We would spend long evenings walking along and "solving the problems of the world". When we became parents, things would be different! We had it ALL worked out. No words could have ever prepared us for what life as a parent would truly be like. We could have never anticipated the joys or frustrations that would come our way soon enough.

Our children are now 10 and 8 years old, and more than once I have announced in frustration, "That's it! I'm taking them back to the hospital where they were born. Surely someone there can help me find the model number and matching instruction manual for this child!!" I'm sure I'm not the only parent who has found themselves wishing for that manual. Parenting is a TOUGH JOB! I mean, these are little people were are dealing with here, not a washing machine or hair dryer! If we foul this parenting thing up, then, well.... the repercussions could be astounding!

OK... Everybody take a deep breath! We're going to walk through this together. Here are a few things that I have picked up along the way in my parenting adventure.

1. Cut yourself a little slack. It's not like they come with instruction manuals! (I just couldn't resist that one)
2. Trust your instincts. You know your child better than anyone.
3. If you're not sure about how to deal with something, don't be ashamed to ask for help from a trusted source(s). Then use this information to revert back to #2.
4. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS stick to the boundaries you've established. I've heard it said that raising toddlers is like being pecked to death by little ducks. While I think this is hysterically funny, it also reminds us that children have an uncanny ability to wear us down at times. I can't say it enough. Consistency is CRUCIAL!
5. (and this one is the most important!) LOVE them! I think our genuine love for our precious little children is what makes all the difference in the end.
   

1001 Nights - Rimsky-Korsakov / Bernard Cribbins

Music from the symphonic suite "Scheherazade", written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (who also wrote "Flight of the Bumblebee") interspersed with stories from the Arabian Nights read by Bernard Cribbins. The stories are bizarre and chaotic and very bloodthirsty - "the genie threatened us both, then killed the girl, cutting off her hands and feet and then her head". Eek! The music sounds like what you'd imagine being played at a concert for 19th century Russian cavalry officers, people like Vronsky out of Anna Karenina. Not terribly enjoyable.

Get Fruity! - Apple Brains

Ultra-catchy lo-fi indie-rock songs about fruit and vegetables. Tuneful! Fun! I love it!

Buy it, and other CDs of new kids music and songs, here

The Wiggles Go Bananas

Isabelle says "Dad! I saw a programme about a band in gran's, and they were all wearing different colours and they were really cool" - she knows bands are important to me, y'see, and was real excited about it. "They even played Monkey Man, though it wasn't the real Monkey Man" (Toots and the Maytals' Monkey Man is a big favourite in our house). Then when we got the CD she was real excited too and wanted it on straight away ...

... and then she never asked to listen to it again, which is just as well, because it's rubbish.

For the kids

This is a compilation from 2002 performed by some fairly well known US artists. It starts off great, with a kicking version of The Muppets' "Mahna mahna" from Cake. The next few tracks are really good too, although there's too much variation in tempos - I find for an album to work for my kids it has to be fairly consistent in tone, and a slow song following a few upbeat numbers totally loses their interest. And thereafter the quality really starts to dip, alas - lots of second rate grown-up songs masquerading as kids music, and some real clunkers. And whoever wrote that "It's alright to cry" song obviously doesn't have kids themselves - my kids certainly don't need any encouragment when it comes to crying.