Everyday Talk About Music

Got another wonderful resource for you father's out there. It's called, 'everyday talk' "Talking Freely and Naturally about God with Your Children". The book is written by John A. Younts. If you click HERE you can order one direct from Amazon. Such a great investment!

I learned about this book when I was at a workshop about parenting older teens. I don't yet have older teens, but I wanted to get a head start on equipping myself with some information on how to serve my children as they get older and face "different" situations.

I have 3 chapters to go before I have completed the book but I was reading this last night and thought, I want to share this with you now!

The chapter is called: Everyday Talk About Music. It's chapter 11 in this fantastic book and what he addresses is so crucial for us as father's.

Let me just back track with you for a moment. When I was a younger man, I had a guy who was fairly influential in my life. He had a great understanding of the power of music. In fact he lead the music at our church and did it well. He had me read alot about music and it's power and influence on others. One of the most helpful exercises we did was look at the Bible. There he showed me how important music was and then he showed me the role of the three different arch angels. Gabriel, Michael & Lucifer. It was there I began to understand that caution and care needed to be exercised when listening to music, personally.

Prior to this, as a kid growing up, my parent's did not allow us to listen to secular music. We were allowed to listen to the Christian station, but if we were caught listening to secular music we would be grounded. And because I ALWAYS did what my parent's told me to do - (NOT) - I noticed that I was affected by music. In fact I would say I was super sensitive to music. The words played on my brain and affected my mood. Now some guys aren't like this, to them, it's just noise in the back ground. So I think Younts is right in getting us as father's to ask the question, what role does music play in people's lives? I mean if we ask our kids this, and listened to their answer, it would be quite insightful for us. It would be quite interesting to hear how these artists words are shaping our sons and daughter's thinking.

I don't think we should be alarmed (yet), but I think we should begin the discussions and hence, why I am recommending the book! I highly recommend it because there are many other issues that he raises that will give us as father's insight into where our kids are at and who is shaping our children's thinking. But in light of music here are a few other question we could be asking our kids: "What defines music as good or bad? What is the potential negative impact of bad music? What is the potential positive impact of good music? What should be the focus of our everyday talk about music?"

Now can I just throw some caution to you? Please listen and ask questions when you do this with your kids. One helpful warning that Younts provides is to be careful that we don't rouse or antagonize our kids about their style of music. This will only tempt them to want to listen to that music more, he suggests. However, we want to equip them with the skills to sift through the messages being communicated in the music that they are listening to.

Here's the reality guys: Most musicians are not out to "get" our kids - they are out to communicate a message, which will influence our kids to think as these "artists" think! In some cases this may be good - but in others - perhaps not! Here's what we are listening for by asking these questions: what is the message the artist is communicating and how is it effecting or infecting our children? That's what you want to source out, I reckon!

I trust you will get a copy of everyday talk - it will help you in parenting with an eternal perspective!