I think the music my daughter listens to is too explicit; thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I’m a mom of DD (15) who I think has a rather lewd and almost explicit taste in music. We are a family who loves listening to all sorts of music, from R&B to Classical to Pop to Jazz, and we like to play music in the car. Lately, however, my DD is playing music that I think is not super great. She listens to artists like Kanye West, Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, and Chappell Roan, all who sing very frequently about lewd acts and have many expletives in their songs. I don’t like her listening to this music in general, as I think it promotes unhealthy ideas about sex too early, but it frustrates me especially when she plays it in the car, as I have a younger daughter (5) who I really don’t think should be exposed to this music. When I try to talk to her about it, she accuses me of suppressing her personal tastes, and that everyone her age listens to these artists. I need advice! Is this music healthy for a teenager like her? How do I get her to stop playing it in the car around my younger daughter? Any and all advice is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Disconnect the speakers in the car.

[Anonymous]

Parent up.

[Anonymous]

"I'm not fond of your music, but you're welcome to listen to it on your own. I don't want to listen to it while I'm driving, and certainly not when your 5-year-old sister is in the car."

[Anonymous]

You make the rules for the car.

This is normal music for teens and tweens. I look back at the music that I listened to in the 90s and it was oversexed too. Most of it went over my head. I didn’t have sex until college and the music really didn’t affect me. Be more worried about her potential access to porn.

[Anonymous]

My DD is younger and listens to great music with trashy lyrics. There are a few songs we skip past, and anything else I disarm by explaining what the lyrics mean. My own mom was uncomfortable about pretty much everything and dealt with it by turning stuff off or flipping past it as fast as possible while getting visibly flustered. I’m probably doing it wrong in my own way.

I’m far more strict about movies, potential porn exposure, social media and Internet access. Compared to all that, music seems so innocent!

[Anonymous]

We listen to that same music (except Kanye West) in the car and sing along together. Chill out. Whatever is on the radio is edited anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I'm not fond of your music, but you're welcome to listen to it on your own. I don't want to listen to it while I'm driving, and certainly not when your 5-year-old sister is in the car."

+1. I don’t view the music as out of place for her at 15, but what is appropriate for her is not necessarily appropriate for younger sibling or other younger persons and she needs to both understand that and be respectful of the other passengers in the vehicle. That’s what earbuds are for OR for when listening to music alone/with friends.

[Anonymous]

I’d just disappointed too because it’s trash music.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We listen to that same music (except Kanye West) in the car and sing along together. Chill out. Whatever is on the radio is edited anyway.

Haha, me too. My older son and I got in the habit of listening to a Hip Hop classics station on the way to pick up his younger brother at younger brother's school. We both really enjoyed it since he was far too young to have experienced that stuff when it was new and I was far too old. Songs like "The Motto" from whence "YOLO" went viral. I have a fondness for the Ludacris song "Stand Up" and he likes "Apple Bottom Jeans".

I was very *shocked Pikachu* when I found out what the "Radio Edits" had deleted out.

My older son still grew up to be a good, polite kid. We kind of laugh about it. My younger one hates the genre and wants us to switch it off.

I grew up with early MTV, Madonna the simulated virgin, and stuff Tipper Gore was trying to get banned, so I have faith it will all be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You make the rules for the car.

This is normal music for teens and tweens. I look back at the music that I listened to in the 90s and it was oversexed too. Most of it went over my head. I didn’t have sex until college and the music really didn’t affect me. Be more worried about her potential access to porn.

Suffocated Love by Tricky turned me into a ho.

[Anonymous]

Your 5 year old has no idea what any of the lyrics mean.

[Anonymous]

I am an uptight white, jewish woman who is 48 and grew up listening to Madonna sing "like a virgin, touched for the very first time" and Salt-n-Pepa singing "Push it, push it real good" and Aerosmith's Janie's Got a Gun, then Tupac Shakur, etc.

I also love songs from Broadway musicals, and classical music from my 14 years of doing ballet, and songs from the '60's that my mom liked.

Tell your daughter she's of course welcome to like and listen to whatever she likes, but in the car with you and/or her 5 yr old sister she can only listen X, Y and Z, and A, B and C that you choose.

[Anonymous]

DCUM exposed me to the lyrics of "I Understood the Assignment". I'm contaminated now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an uptight white, jewish woman who is 48 and grew up listening to Madonna sing "like a virgin, touched for the very first time" and Salt-n-Pepa singing "Push it, push it real good" and Aerosmith's Janie's Got a Gun, then Tupac Shakur, etc.

I also love songs from Broadway musicals, and classical music from my 14 years of doing ballet, and songs from the '60's that my mom liked.

Tell your daughter she's of course welcome to like and listen to whatever she likes, but in the car with you and/or her 5 yr old sister she can only listen X, Y and Z, and A, B and C that you choose.

None of those songs come close to the lewdness of what's become commonplace today.