I think that music does influence the behavior of youth to some extent. I believe that many people do not realize just how susceptible kids are to what others are saying. Be it a mother to her son, teacher to her students or lyrics singing a song, they soak it all in. No matter what form it comes to them in. They are like sponges absorbing everything they hear. When kids listen to songs that degrade women and basically say don’t listen to authority, then they are going to be influenced by it. To what extent I think depends on many things. Like their morals, values and family life.
To group all kids together and say that music affects them the same would be wrong. I think that everyone is different and therefore they will be affected differently by things, be it music or any thing else. I think that kids that are in loving homes with good role models and being brought up to respect other will be less influenced by negative music than the kids that live in bad environments. I kind of think of music as a back ground force, it is there influencing the kids but not as much as many other things. This means that if kids have been raised with values that say respect others, listen to authority and follow the rules then music will have a minimal affect on them. However, kids that are raised with poor values that say it is ok to hit your spouse, rob a store, guns are good and cops are bad then the negative music will influence them a lot more. They will hear the lyrics as a confirmation that it is acceptable to do in those things in our society. Not only is it in their family but it is also being sung about on the radio.
I want to say, that I do not think that music is a major influence in most people’s lives. I do not think that listening to Goth music was the reason why the Columbine kids shot up there school or why some kids kill them selves. I think that in these extreme cases the kids have many other things going on in their lives and music is used as a scapegoat. In these cases people want to find “something” to blame, so they point their finger at music. However, there are thousands of kids that listen to the same music and they do not go to such extreme measures.
To wrap this up, I will say that we as parents do need to monitor what are children are listening too. I think it is really sad when I hear a 2 year old kid is singing about Bitches and Hoes. I know that they probably do not know what they are saying but one day they will. Maybe it will affect then and maybe it will not, but do you really think we should chance it? I know I don’t.
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I enjoyed reading your post. You made some very key points that I agree with. Today’s youth is very much like a sponge and can be influenced by many different things. They absorb almost everything they see and hear around them. Songs that talk about hurting or degrading woman or about violence can cause the child to commit these horrible crimes. It depends on their morals, values, and family life whether they let the music influence their lives. Each and every person is different though in terms of how the music affects them. I to believe that if a child lives in a loving home with good parents and is brought up and shown how to respect others, music will have little to no affect on them. But if the child is brought up in a home that shows a lot of hate and violence and the parents show no guidance, the child will probably absorb a lot of what the music is saying. I believe that parent’s needs to monitor the music their children are listening to. There are millions of children out there that are never affected by music throughout their lives and they listen to it each and every day of their lives.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to say great blog and that it is nice to know that someone in the class has a very similar view as myself. I can honestly agree with you that kids are like “sponges” and that they absorb every little thing that is in their lives. I also believe that morals, values, and family life have a lot to do with what influences kids. I had an awesome childhood so I did not need anything else in my life to influence me negatively or positively. I did however notice some of my friend’s situations and how their influences differed from my own. I have had a couple friends completely change their lifestyles because of music. To me, music exists purely for my enjoyment and it is not there to influence me in any way. I believe your right when you state that people are just trying to find something to “blame” for all the bad decisions that kids make. Unfortunately, music is such an easy target to blame for all this negative influence. Parents are responsible for monitoring their children’s behavior most definitely. Because music does not raise the youth, but the parents do!
ReplyDeleteYour comments are very insightful and ring so true to me! I absolutely agree that most of what influences children is not the music but their family life. How a kid is brought up, the values he/she are taught are the most important parts of his/her foundation of character. We, as parents, have a great responsibility to monitor what our kids are listening to and watching and talking about things they hear and see so we can gain insight into where their thoughts are and direct them into the right paths. I absolutely agree that music is sometimes used as a scapegoat when things go horribly wrong, like with the school shootings. There were many other factors that led up to those young men doing what they did, the least of which was the music they listened to. I really doubt it was one thing in particular. There are so many things that lead to making us who we are. The most important way we can teach our kids to make the right choices in life is through our own actions. It's a great thing to always keep in mind.
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