This Dad Wants You To Stop Skipping Songs In The Car That Your Kids Don’t Like
And there’s a really good reason for it.
One dad on TikTok has an important message for parents: if you want them to be amenable, patient, and flexible, you need to let them be uncomfortable for a moment or two. One simple way to help? Stop skipping songs they don’t like in the car. That’s right! Make them listen to *NSYNC, Blink-182, or any song off Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 7 (They all went downhill after that, let’s be real).
“Stop letting your kid change the song in the car,” TikTok user @growthmindsetparenting says in his video.
“This has been a personal pet peeve of mine of late, and I actually think there's a lesson here, okay? Listen, here's the deal. My kids, they get in the car, they turn on one of their myriad terrible playlists, there are multiples, and the algorithm now thinks I have the worst taste in music, which apparently I do because I allow all this music to be played in my car.”
The father of three and former teacher goes on to say that his kids are constantly asking to skip songs. They don’t want to listen to a minute of something they don’t like.
“The difficult thing about consistently skipping the things that we don't want to deal with that are 100% perfect is that we're incapable of demonstrating any degree of patience or curiosity for something that isn't immediately known and immediately comfortable and immediately likable,” he explains.
“It's no good, right? That just means we only want to hang out with the kids that we know, we only want to eat donuts instead of vegetables, and we don't want to listen to new music. So, I instituted a radio rule. When the playlist comes on, we act like it's the radio; we don't change the song unless we all agree that, like, ‘Yeah, actually, the song doesn't have that sense.’ That happens a lot, especially when I lead the voting. But I think they're actually learning a useful lesson here.”
This is actually brilliant! Not only does this simple measure help kids understand that life is not always going to be catered to their specific needs and wants, but it also shows kids that they need to, at times, wait and let other people’s interests and tastes be at the helm, which builds empathy.
One mom worded this perfectly and commented, “Good argument. They can’t handle the slightest amount of friction. Friction is just part of life.”
Yes, kids need to experience friction! That is how you grow! Now turn on that *NSYNC song!
