Her family, an extended one, not only applauds her every move but lets her infant sibling Pratibha, 5, and cousin Hema, 3, join her on the dance floor. Her mother, Deepa , among all, is all smiles to see her dance so well. But amidst all this, they completely forget about the songs the kids are singing.[break]
“Children are exposed to wrong kinds of music these days,” says Nhyoo Bajracharya, the composer. He explains that the composition of music is always targeted to a certain group of people. “But media exposure and popular culture have left no space for children to enjoy songs fit for their age,” he adds.
Raamesh, a well-known children’s songs composer, says that children nowadays are lacking healthy entertainment. “When children learn these adult songs, specially the vulgar ones, the unnecessary contents linger along with their process of the development,” he says.
He points out that songs are very useful tools that help shape the development of a child. And children’s songs are especially important because they have contents that help children identify themselves in the world. They also provide a peek into the society; allowing kids to learn about other people and places.
“Children’s songs offer value education. They indirectly enforce messages that help in the personality development of the children,” says Ganga Pathak, child
psychologist.
Manisha Dangol, 23, who grew up listening and singing to the songs by Raamesh, agrees with his point of view. “Children’s songs weren’t just entertainment, many of them included simple moral lessons in between the melody and rhyme,” she says. She claims that she learnt the simple do’s and don’ts in a fun way from songs rather than forced on her by lectures or punishment.
“Many children’s songs have deeper meanings. Children may only memorize them without knowing the gist of the lyrics as they sing it for the first time, but they will eventually grasp what the songs are about,” says Raamesh. He adds that the same is with any other songs that carry contents unsuitable for children of that age.
“We may take it lightly that children know nothing and act ignorant when they prefer singing adult songs, but sadly those leave big impressions on their minds.”
Children first learn the melody, then the words and eventually the meanings that words provide, says Durga Lal Shrestha, a veteran children’s songwriter. “We still remember the songs that we learnt when we were young because they have simple words that are built within simple tunes,” he adds.
He shares his pleasant experiences of his former students coming up to him and singing the rhymes when he meets them even after many years. “Sometimes they are accompanied by their kids, and they too sing along,” says Shrestha with a smile.
But for kids like Prabha and her cousins, children’s songs have definitely taken a back seat. Though her mother Deepa agrees with the importance of children’s rhymes, she confesses that both the family and school are falling short on teaching her kids those songs.
“The lack of awareness in parents is the major problem with children retreating to adult songs,” says Raamesh. He further adds that parents are ignoring the fact that choice of songs also suggests the kind of culture we are instilling in kids.
He says that he is confounded by the way parents encourage their kids to sing compositions that have explicit meanings. According to him, Bollywood and even some Nepali item songs contain very sexually implicit connotations that clearly give wrong meanings, and many of them refer to male and patriarchal stereotypes.
“Kids as small as eight or nine have learned abusive language, thanks to western music that teach them violence, anger and aggressiveness,” he says.
Pathak insists that it is amazing how parents take pride in their children singing English or Bollywood songs. They are barely seen caring about the contents of the songs. “Parents who don’t filter what their children learn from adult songs are seen to be getting more concerned with their children’s choices when they reach adolescence,” she says.
She adds that singing rhymes also gives the children a sense of teamwork, “Researches have proved that children singing in groups give them the feeling of belongingness.”
“Earlier, there used to be programs targeted for children and radio and television used to air children’s songs,” says Bajracharya, putting media outlet at fault for the decrement of children’s songs. “But now, media outlets are cutting down the spaces allocated for children.” On top of that, access to many international television channels has been giving tough competition to native programs meant for children.
If not filtered, juvenile minds can fall into depression and get rapt with superfluous issues, says Pathak. “Children should be taught about life and joy, not sex, heartbreaks or despair,’ she adds.
Raamesh, on his part, cites the lack of organizations solely dedicated to children’s songs, a major drawback on the promotion of rhymes.
“There are many songs and albums produced solely for children, but they aren’t put together for easy accessibility or as documentation of history,” he says. He further argues that there should be archives for the children’s songs.
A childhood without children’s songs is similar to one without toys. The absence of those songs in one’s childhood is dearth of play with words.
By detaching kids from those songs, parents are letting a part of the puzzle in the child’s life letting go empty. It has been proven that music helps children with language skills. And by exposing children to wrong music, what kind of language skills are we trying to infuse in them?
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