Do you allow your children to listen to secular music?

[Surrender2Win]

I go back and forth in my head on this issue. My husband and I haven't really talked about it. I listen to Christian music. My husband listens to secular, so this discussion would more then likely go nowhere if we did talk about it.

So, do you allow your children to listen to secular music? Why or why not?

 

[cristianna]

As long as the music is clean with no hidden agendas, nasty language and stuff I have no problem with it.

Because of my constant need for music to be playing pretty much non-stop I'm fully aware of what stations are no-no's, which ones are pretty good but need to catch certain songs at the beginning and stuff.

Why do you feel this type of conversation would go nowhere? He may agree the "stronger" songs should not be played too. Or are you feeling they should only be listening to Christian music?

 

[CelticRose]

We keep the living room music on the Christian station but youngest is allowed a choice on her own mini-stereo. She is my really musical child so is allowed the classical station as well & the Christian station that plays clean secular music. She's always been good about abiding by the restrictions but as she'd rather play music than listen to it it is usually the rest of us listening to her practise.

 

[HeKnowsMyName]

We haven't had this issue yet. DD has a cd player but all she has is Christian cd's.

I wasn't allowed to listen to secular music when I was coming up but I did slip around and listen to it. Knowing that, I'm not sure what we should do. Will cross that bridge when we have to. LOL

 

[Athene]

Yes, it's mainly what I listen too.

 

[Savedthroughfaith]

No, but DD is only 2 1/2....so we haven't really faced this yet. She listens to what we listen to.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

Yes. Both my husband and I listen to a mix of things but there are songs and bands that we will not allow our children to listen to unsupervised becaus of content. I don't listen to the radio much so that isn't an issue.

 

[HeatherJay]

As long as it's clean, then I have no issues with secular music in regards to my kids.

 

[5stringJeff]

We listen to a lot of country music in our house, so yeah, my kids hear it almost daily.

 

[seamonster]

Yes. Some Christian artists are talented, but there are so many talented non-Christian musicians that I refuse to limit my children's music to just those who sing songs about Jesus.

 

[Surrender2Win]

Why do you feel this type of conversation would go nowhere? He may agree the "stronger" songs should not be played too. Or are you feeling they should only be listening to Christian music?

My husband is mostly a yes/no type of person. We don't have very many discussions about anything. I don't feel it would go anywhere, because there more then likely would be no discussion on it. He would either say, yeah sure, or no without sharing his thoughts on it.

I don't necessarily feel they should only be listening to Christian music. My kids do listen to both Christian and clean secular music. I just wonder sometimes how certain songs will influence them is all. Some times even clean music can influence in a negative way. It may not have dirty language, violence, drugs or sexual content in it, but the content of some songs can be down or depressing and those are songs that I get concerned about.

 

[lucypevensie]

My husband usually listens to secular music. I usually listen to Christian music. Our kids prefer the Christian music because they spend a little more time with me. It first it worried me that "his" music might have bad influences on them. But I had to learn to trust him in that area. He's not out to corrupt our children's minds. He turns off the negative stuff. I realized that my protesting was really my subtle way of trying to get my own way.

Frankly, I think if our children get messed up it's not solely because of the music they listen to.

 

[jgonz]

We do allow our kids to listen to more than just Christian music, however with the older ones I stress not only listening to the lyrics and making sure they're acceptable, but also to pay attention to how the music makes them feel. There are a few so-called Christian bands that make my stomach feel icky or I get really angry, so I can't listen to them.

 

[Evangelina]

My main concern with music is the huge number of 'love' songs around which present a completely distorted idea of love and relationships. These are what I think do the most damage, and they're to be found in christian music as well as secular. Most kids who're well brought up won't buy into gangs and violence and drugs... but they might fall into dumb attitudes about love from listening to music, reading books, watching movies...

(not sure what the exact answer is, btw)

 

[SecretBlessings]

I think moderation is the key. Allowing them to listen to secular and Christian music will allow them to experience what types of music is out there for them to listen to as long as it's "clean"

 

[HeyHomie]

Does Beethoven count as secular?

 

[ChrisCountryGirl]

Does Beethoven count as secular?

No, I don't think so.

I don't have a problem with children listening to secular music. I grew up listening to country and other types of music and I turned out okay.

 

[HeKnowsMyName]

This reminds me of how naive I was. I slipped around and listened to rock music when I was a teenager. One of my favorite songs was "Poor Some Sugar on Me". Well I had no clue it actually had a meaning. LOL DH brought that song home the other day and we listened to it and I was like - YIKES! Had no clue! Just liked the rythym and beat I suppose.

 

[gengwall]

Growing up they could listen to secular with supervision. But of course, when they were out of the house, they listened to just about every filthy thing under the sun (mostly played by friends). So our main objective was to teach them to be discerning and to evaluate the merit of the songs they heard from a biblical perspective.

Now adults, they are free to do as they please although we still monitor what is played in our house. It has been nice to see both of our girls challenge their friends to listen with a more critical ear to the songs they like as well as introduce their friends to Christian alternatives in their preferred musical genres.

 

[RoseofLima]

We listen to lots of jazz and classical music...that's secular (in a large part)...

My kids so don't care about music yet... they aren't going to have ipods and personal stereos...so it's going to have to pass the Mommy test before it can be played in public ear shot of the younger kids anyway... I don't care so much if it's secular music-- but rather if there is bad language and sexual suggestions (or explicit glorification of sex outside of marriage) or violence or drugs.

Funny story- a priest I know tells the story about how his dad would throw away any music they bought that didn't pass his Dad Test. The priest (as a young teen) came home with a Men At Work record. His dad found it and decided it was a no go...and the priest was arguing " But Dad..the Land Down Under is talking about Australia..not Hell!!!.... " The priest says that the result was really seriously looking at the money he was spending and to make sure a record he bought would pass muster- so it wouldn't be thrown away Their family is huge- like 12 kids, and as adults they are all faithful and practicing Christians..so even though it's kind of psycho- whatever they did turned out to work okay