My 7-year-old daughter and I heading somewhere in the car the other night.. and I am barely finished backing out of the driveway when Jamie Foxx's "Blame It" (on the Alcohol) comes on the radio..

Before I can tune in another station, she starts singing along.  Because, she's heard it before.  (American Idol appearance among other places)  It's a catchy tune.  (not hard to follow along with Blame it on the al-al-al-al-al-alcohol..) And she loves to sing.  I start pushing buttons to find my something more appropriate to listen to. 

She asks me to turn it back.  And then wants to know why I don't want her listening to that song.

While I have to laugh a bit internally on this one.. trying to explain why.. I stuck with it.  For now. 

Every parent/set of parents makes his or her own choice in this situation.  And while relatively harmless and I know she's heard worse lyrics without realizing it before.. at this particular moment, I'm thinking its best to not let her listen to certain aspects of our society being glorified.  At least, not yet.  Even though she may not really understand or think about what's behind the words.

Heck, half the time, I don't.  Until she's in the car with me.

I also remember being 12 and my parents having this same discussion with me about a song or two they weren't happy with.  Funny thing was, I didn't even know the real lyrics, I was just doing the 'watermelon thing'. 

But she/and I.. just like or liked the song.  Not necessarily thinking about the message behind it.   

Plus, at this point, she's SO over Dora, Laurie Berkner and Ralphs World.  There seem to to be few great options for in-betweens.  Even Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus and Disney production soundtracks give kids more ammo than I'm thinking a 7-year-old should have.

These can be teaching moments, on the one hand.  But on the other, when it comes to music, what's a parent to do?  Alcohol seems to be the least of our worries if you truly listen to the lyrics of most pop/top 40 (what kids prefer) or any other genre of music out there these days.  And it's pretty tough to get a kid to hang with symphony/relaxation music all the time....