Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Sexy in Preschool?

A little girl's father came to me yesterday with a most remarkable audio recording he made of his daughter telling him about what she learned at a birthday party. "It's  sexy lady. Everybody wants to see you naked and see if it's beautiful. I was thinking about sexy boys. To be naked and everybody see if it's beautiful."

Now before you drop your teeth please understand that a four and a half year old girl is not acquainted with the logistics of the song, "Sexy Lady". Children this age are acquainted with each other's bodies, because they see each other in the potty all day, if they are in child care. But the idea of pleasure at looking at each others' bodies isn't on their minds they way it is with adults.They may feel pleasure but it is not what adults understand to be sexual.  They don't understand "Damn girl you drive me crazy. I wont stop until the panties drop..."! 

But what are parents filling their children's minds with by playing songs with sexual lyrics around their children so often that the children can sing the words? And we wonder why children's clothing has become over-sexualized. 

My class is listening to Mozart's Magic Flute. They are making puppets, dressing up as the characters, writing stories, and enjoying all of the archetypal energies associated with the story. 
The girls love the story of the Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina, and want to be the evil Queen of Night. The boys are fascinated both by Tamino with his sword and flute, and Papageno with his pipes. They are trying on identities through the music and story. Isn't this a better way to enrich children's musical vocabulary? They can dance to sexy songs later!