Parents are People.

Oh my word. I'm obsessed.

Did you grow up with Free to Be...You and Me? I did...and remembered just enough to be nostalgic about it and sing the folksy, catchy title track from time to time. My friend Kate mentioned listening to it with her little pumpkin on Facebook, and generously shared a copy of the music with me. And it's my new obsession. Adah and I are having daily dance/listening parties. Amazing.

Read more about the album here - first produced in 1972, it's a totally amazing hippie album featuring songs and stories that "encourage post-1960's gender neutrality, saluting values such as individuality, tolerance, and comfort with one's identity. A major thematic message is that anyone -- whether a boy or a girl -- can achieve anything." (Wikipedia)

I could go into glowing details about nearly every track on the album, but right now I'm especially loving Parents are People. Check out some of the lyrics...

Mommies are people, people with children
When mommies were little, they used to be girls
Like some of you, but then they grew
And now mommies are women, women with children
Busy with children, and things that they do
There are a lot of things a lot of mommies can do
Some mommies are ranchers, or poetry makers
Or doctors or teachers, or cleaners or bakers
Some mommies drive taxis, or sing on TV
Yeah, mommies can be almost anything they want to be

Oh my I feel so empowered! I love love love these messages!

 

So in all seriousness, Paul and I have had many many conversations about some of our biggest hopes are parents. The hills we want to die on, in essence. In almost every one, one of the very subjects topping the list is that our child(ren) will know us each as individuals - know what makes us tick, what we're passionate about, what was important in our lives before we were parents and is still important to us in this new life phase. It is so vital to me that Adah comes to see me dance or to watch Paul make music and that she knows our friends and what we're invested in and is a part of our story in all facets. Not because I want her to be a dancer or a musician or just like us in any way - no no no certainly not that - but because I want her to see what it is that makes us tick. Because I want her to have passion for something, whatever it is, and I hope that by exposing her to the things we are passionate about we'll be enabling her to search for and grasp onto those things in her own life. Because I believe that our family life will be richer if we celebrate and invest in those vital life forces feeding us all as individuals.

So that's my soap box. And my excitement. Over good music and empowering messages and moments of morning sun lit family rooms where mommies and baby girls bounce to the rhythm of songs reminding us both that we are uniquely created and loved just the way we are. Mommies and daddies and babies who can be almost anything they want to be...