Golden Age Musicals

This Week —

How much time should our children spend in front of the screen?
This is a very tricky, very personal choice every family makes. Now I’m not here to tell you what is right or wrong, I’m simply going to share what has worked for us. Admittedly our Elf gets more screen time than I would like, but we are in a pandemic and we have all had to make exceptions. No judgment and no guilt here. I’ve embraced it and tried to organize it in my head under these two main categories:
- For cultural enrichment
- For learning something we can’t demonstrate at home (How is the trombone played? What makes a rocket fly? How do chickens lay eggs?)

Listen to —

Our main go-to’s are Golden Age Hollywood musicals. Many of these musicals were written by great composers like George Gershwin and Rodgers & Hammerstein. Plus I love that my Elf gets to see virtuosic dancers and singers such as Gene Kelly and Julie Andrews performing at the top of their game. Such a treat!

So, this week’s playlist includes our favorite songs from the musicals we watch the most. We love listening to these even without watching the films (hot tip: they are great for listening in the car). But if you feel inclined and your kiddo is interested, you could also check out these scenes on Youtube and share them with your elves. I hope you love them as much as we do!

One Last Thought —

My North Star is that it does not need to be made for kids in order to be appropriate for kids. I show him what I think will be enriching and useful to him. I personally stray from anything animated only because it makes him go on a crazy-brain-sugar-high and there’s no coming down from there without a huge meltdown 🤪

Happy listening!