The Safety Song

Catching up from 2008 - this was late Spring

A little back story first: My parents were both musicians, and growing up it seemed we were always putting things to music. My brother had a song about fruit that helped him remember Lemons are yellow, Limes are green, etc. He and I wrote a song about the sprinkler, called "19-String Guitar." Road trips were always filled with singalongs -- it's just in our blood.

Another pertinent fact is that Michelle and I have tried to encourage the kids to not learn mean or vulgar language, and have tried our best to not use such words around them. Whenever I forget something, or the kids ask why I did something stupid, I'll respond, "'Cause Daddy's a bonehead." I'd prefer they not use "stupid" to refer to a person, so "bonehead" seemed inocuous enough.

Now on to the story at hand...

As the kids grew aware of the world around them, and as we began coaching each of them about safety, strangers, etc., I came up with a song I call the "Safety Song." I told each of the girls, "If you ever get lost, sing this song, and we'll come find you." It's to the tune of On Top of Old Smokey:

My Daddy is Carl,
And my Mommy's Michelle.
My name is [kid's name],
And my last name is Greene.

As I began teaching this song to Arden (not yet 3), she got THAT LOOK in her eye, and a little smirk. It was as if to day this is a silly song, and I would rather do something cooler than sing at this moment. But to make sure she learned it, I began each line and had her fill in the blanks. Here's how it went:

Me: [singing] "My Daddy is..."
Arden: [in perfect tune, and without missing a beat] "a BONEHEAD!!"
Me: [laughing, barely able to hold a note] "And my Mommy is..."
Arden: [again, spot on] "Too...."

Okay, maybe we'll try another angle....