DadJack.com Blog

I was offered the opportunity to review the newest in the Kidz Bop series, Kidz Bop 21…  But I thought what would my opinions matter in respect to a CD for kids, so I enlisted Lucy (my 8 year old daughter) and Bing (my 5 year old son) to listen to it with me and give their perspective on the latest (which will be released on Jan. 17th, 2012) in the series.

I figured the best way to work this was to go through each track:

1. Party Rock Anthem -

Lucy: I like how it sounds with kids singing instead of an adult.

Bing: (Bing started singing along instantly… And shortly after was dancing)  I like it because their are girls singing and the voices change.  Everybody is shuffling.

2. Moves Like Jagger

Lucy:  It sounds like the same people (She means Maroon 5… then I asked “What are moves like Jagger?”)  I don’t know, is it a move?

Bing:  I liked it, I just did.

3. The Edge of Glory

Lucy:  I like how it sounds with kids, I just like the way it sounds.

Bing:  I like that in the back it says “en-en-en-en” (??? – he’s 5)

4. You Make Me Feel

Lucy:  I like the girls robot voice.

Bing: That’s boys and girls… I like that.

5. Good Life

Lucy:  I like how they all sing together on the “Good Life” part.

Bing:  I like that they say “it’s going to be a good night.”

6. Stereo Hearts

Lucy:  At the start their were three people and they all had their own parts, I liked that.  I like this song.

Bing:  I like the “ohh ohh” part.

7. Without You

Lucy:  Don’t know this song, but I like it so far.

Bing:  I like it.  (This is the first song they weren’t already familiar with.)

8. Fly

Lucy:  I don’t know this song… I’d like to fly.  The rapping part is good.

Bing:  I like it… It says “to flyyyyyyyyyyyy.”

9. Hello

Lucy:  I know this song and I like it.

Bing:  I liked it .
OK, at this point they are running around and dancing, so we’ll get an overall review at the end of the remaining tracks.

10. We Found Love

11. It Will Rain

12. The One That Got Away

13. Good Feeling

14. Mr. Saxobeat

15. It Girl

16. Someone Like You.

Lucy: I like how the kids sing better than the adults.  I would tell my friends at school to get this CD.  I know all the songs expect 2 or 3 of them.

Bing: I just liked it all.

Dad’s turn, As I watched the kids I could tell they were really enjoying these versions of the Top 40 songs they already enjoy.  As a parent I like that I know these versions are safe for them to listen too. We’ve all had to quickly turn off a song because of content.  Most importantly, it’s not totally annoying to listen to for adults. It is not the nerve trying, stuck in your head til it hurts Wiggles song or Barney ballad.
Kidz Bop 21 gets three thumbs up from the Heine’s.

Rock on, Jack

I love new and creative ideas, especially when I throw random thoughts out into the blog world and you guys share.  So when I said I was over flowing with kids drawings it was no surprise that you guys had some great ideas, the one that was most popular was to scan them and save the files or make a photo book from them.  I thought about this for awhile, and it did solve my storage issues, but for some reason it rubbed me the wrong way…  Partly because this plan requires me to throw them away after I scan them.

We have become very used to living in a virtual world, giving up more tangible variations of things.  No longer do we have a record (if your old like me, CD is you’re younger) collection our music is on MP3,  Movies are no longer stored on DVD but downloaded or streamed on demand, photos are shot digitally and stored on a hard drive, very rarely printed… Heck, now-a-days you don’t even have the burden of storing these files on our computer, they can be stored in the “cloud.”  And this has made life easier, less expensive and less cluttered.  We didn’t really need to be able to touch these things… Although some of my fondest memories are of listening to a new album while looking at the artwork and reading the liner notes, spending late nights at Tower on Sunset thumbing through records, CD’s and videos with my friends or discovering exactly how the photos I shot came out after getting them from the lab, seeing if I technically made the right choices and what the results were.

So does it make sense to scan and toss the kids art… Yes and no.  Those tattered papers, covered in crayon and marker with the images conjured up by innocent, developing minds may not last as long as a digital file, but they also were touched by those little hands, colored wax pressed under the pressure of tiny fist directly to their surface.  There is no piece of famous art work I cannot Google and see at an instant right here on the couch where I sit typing this… But it’s still not the same as seeing it in person.  I thought what if when I gave my Mom the ashtray I made her in elementary school (Yes, we used to make our parents ashtrays!) she told me how much she loved it, took a picture and tossed it?  Sure, we’d always have the photo to look at, but it just wouldn’t be the same.

So I re-evaluated my original concern over what to do with the kids artwork…  And the answer was still found in those suggestions, the solution was digital.  With all the space I save by having my music collection on a cloud, my photos on a wafer size chip, movies streamed directly to my TV, books stored not on shelves but on a device no bigger than the composition books they used to make us journal in at school… I can fill all that extra space with the kids art work.   I figure I’m still ahead, just based on the thousands of songs in my iPod, Those thousands of records would take up way more space than those drawings…  And someday my kids kids will be able to touch the same paper their parents did when they were their age.

Rock on, Jack

As television rolls out the new fall season I thought it would be a good time to get back into blogging too!  I have really slacked over the summer… Really since The Insana Quotient was canceled.  I know so many of you can relate to being laid-off, down-sized, part of a staff reduction… or whatever other catch-phrase they’re currently using to cover that they have fired people.  It’s no fun, the stress and worry weigh on you.  For a long time now we’ve been hearing that things are getting better… I’m waiting, I’ll believe it when I see it.  But I figured the blog need not wait any longer, so I’m going to do my best to update it regularly… even if I have nothing to say! (Luckily there is usually something for me to complain about.)

The only bright spot of being unemployed this summer was that I had a chance to spend a lot of extra time with the kids.  I always enjoy time with my kids, but it seemed a little more important this summer… It was the last summer before they would both be in school, before they are both officially big kids.  You want your kids to grow up and gain an excellent education… But it’s a little heart breaking to see your babies grow up and not need you as much as they once did.  I know there are new and exciting things to come as they grow…  But a part of me will always miss my little babies that I could hold against my chest and soothe their worries and pains away.

Rock on, Jack

The kids have been gone since Saturday, It’s always a strange feeling when they are out of town… There is a certain comfort, even if they’re not at my house, knowing they are just a few congested freeways away.  Adding to the weirdness is knowing that they are at my Ex-Wife’s wedding.

I was thinking about it the other day, Stretch always is filled with so much anger and sometimes at things I just cannot grasp being that upset about.  I can’t find that anger towards much of anything… Including my Ex.  It is more disappointment, in both of us.  I am disappointed in her for all the obvious reasons and in myself for trusting her, believing all she said during our relationship, which now all has been proven false.

In the limited exposure I have to her (during exchanges, at school events) she acts as if nothing is wrong, as nothing has happened, like we’re friends…  We are not friends.  I have great friends, who I have known much longer than she, that have never let me down, toyed with my emotions or tried with all their power to destruct my life on all levels… Those are my friends.

I guess you just think of your kids as yours, as your realities being in sync, but that is not true anymore… My kids and I live in different worlds.  They, in one with me and one with their mother… Different locations, experiences, friends, family, et cetera.  And I, in one with them and then in another when they are not with me… When you become a parent it becomes your whole world, all encompassing, everything you do is focused and revolved around your children, especially when they are babies.  I embraced that, my kids were my total focus… Now I am unfocused on them most of the week and have to try and rebuild a pseudo-pre-kids life, like I had before marriage and kids.

It’s odd because it is what so many people with spouses and kids say they want back, that freedom and personal time lost by family life… Trust me, it’s not all as it’s cracked up to be and it’s very different from what you remember.  I am not 25 anymore, living as if I am as very little appeal…  I want my boring life back, I was good at that, I enjoyed it.

Although I say I want my family life back, and it’s true, but as I have earlier written, I am not going to get into a relationship just to be in one… I see that too often, I saw it with my my Dad.

So for now, I will live in both my worlds, separately together.

I’ve told you before, heck we’ve even made videos, about how cooking is a great way to spend time with the kids… Well, the preparation can be just as great!  Talk to your Tot about what they want to make, search the internet for a recipe (Or pick something easy like homemade pizza or cookies).  Make a shopping list, now depending on how old your kids are this process can differ, but with my kids I read off the ingredients and they draw pictures of them on our list along with the quantity we need.  We start in the pantry and see if we have any of the items, if we do we cross them off… For everything else we’re off to the market.  And don’t incorporate this into your normal market trip, make it special for this project.  Go down the aisles, let them find the items, explain pricing and size options… It is not just quality time, but a great learning experience for them to learn how to compare items, learn lessons about money and better understand sizes and measurements.  Also, about completing tasks and following a list.

Once the list is complete, the only thing left to do is cook!  Go home and have a blast!

If you have any fun “Dad-Tivities” sent them to me at jack@dadjack.com

It’s not the cooking, or the laundry, I’ve always been able to handle that.  It’s not the trips to the super market, one kid taking a “test bite” out of each apple we have selected while his sister tries to sneak Lucky Charms and anything else Daddy has deemed “junk” into the cart.  It’s not going to the aquarium or the zoo, I can always rope my Sister or Mom into helping me with those special trips.  It’s not getting both kids bathed and into their jammies, we work together and get it done quite smoothly.

The hardest part is watching it all happen alone, all the special times.  I don’t mean sitting 5 or 6 rows away from my ex and her husband at Lucy’s school events, I mean those special moments that happen almost daily as your kids grow and discover.  The little things that amaze you or overwhelm you, the things that can only truly be appreciated by your partner, the person who you created these miracles.

When you check on them sleeping and they look so peaceful, snoring those little snores or  when they are laying on the floor concentrating so hard on the drawing they are making, crayon in fist, creating a mini-masterpiece.  When you are cooking together and you go through almost the full dozen eggs just trying to learn how to crack them correctly (And Baby ends up wearing more than actually get in the mixing bowl).  And the millions of other tiny, but amazing, things that they do on a daily basis.  I capture many of these moments on tiny SD cards, and share them with friends and family… I have filled dozens of them.  But mostly, I fill my brain with them, filing them away under the “extremely important” category, understanding how special each one is… And that I am the sole keeper of these historic moments…  And that there is a full set of these moments, happening on the other side of the hill and across the basin that are being shared with someone unworthy of their greatness and power, that I will never know.