That Infernal Racket

One thing we love about our house is the fact that we are less than a mile from the local library. That means lots of trips walking to the library in the summer and driving in the winter. We go to lots of story times, puppet shows, magic shows, or art opportunities. And we love, love, love exposing our kids to oodles of good books.It also means that we help Jake feed his John Deere obsession by putting lots of John Deere books, CDs, and movies on hold.

One night we went to the library and Jake picked up this CD that Cameron had placed on hold for him. When we got home Jake went running into the house clutching his treasure. Full of end-of-the-day, third-trimester levels of energy, I lagged behind helping the girls out of the car.

By the time I got inside the house redneck children's music could be heard in every room. Grace was dancing to it in the hallway.

I quelled my first instinct, which was to march in and tell him to turn down that infernal racket. (Such authoritarian measures aren't really good for a loving, respectful parent-child relationship.)

I reminded myself that he was only 6 and not 16 and there actually wasn't anything morally objectionable in the music.

I noted that the urge to blare music at top levels from the nearest sound system is apparently hard wired rather than acquired sometime between the ages of 10 and 12. How unfortunate.

I was rescued by Cameron, who walked down the hall, glanced into the messy, music-filled room, and casually asked Jake to start cleaning to the tunes.

If I must listen to John Deere musical propaganda resonating through the house, at least I can comfort myself with the knowledge that our house is being cleaned.