Repost: My kid won't stop singing an annoying song. Help!

I've contributed to the Orlando Sentinel's Moms at Work blog since 2010. The blog is changing content management systems and my old posts will no longer be available to the public, so I'm reposting them here, in the order that they were originally posted.


Jan. 9, 2012

Is there some kind of rule that whatever I find most annoying must be the thing my daughter wants more than anything?

Not long ago, she came home with a song in her heart and on her lips.

She seemed to have a grip on the song's melody, and although I wasn't paying much attention, she kept humming it and dancing. I noticed that she sang the word "baby," the word "sky" and the phrase "oh, oh, oh," but I thought it was something she and her friends at preschool had made up and that she'd forget it in an hour or two.

She didn't. It became...maddening.

Then it occurred to me to Google the preschooler-mangled lyrics so I could figure out what the heck she was actually singing. After a minute or two, I was able to determine that the tune that made me want to throw things was a Katy Perry song.

"Firework," to be specific:



It turned out that it isn't much better when you hear the actual (silly, but child-friendly, luckily) lyrics clearly. And it also turned out that my daughter, upon hearing Mommy and Daddy play the real version of her favorite song once, quickly realized we could play it whenever we "wanted."

Yes, it was a mistake to have her in the room when I finally figured out what the song was. A big, big, BIG mistake.

She now requests it at every opportunity, and to make matters worse, she wants us to jump and dance with her as it plays, and she wants us to play it loudly. You are probably unsurprised to hear that I'm not a big fan of dancing around the house with that song playing at earsplitting decibels.

I'm so confused by the turn my life has taken. When did the most-played song in my household become a shouty, irritating pop ditty? Is my child doomed to terrible taste in music? Which urchin on the playground at her preschool is responsible for teaching this song to her, and how can I return the favor to that child's parents?

And why is this song such an earworm?

Maybe I can learn to deal with it. If I could only just ignite the light and let it shine, and own the night like the Fourth of....AAARGGHH!!