This is a fantastic guest blog post from our resident clarinettist Jessie who also co-wrote some of the songs on our new EP We're All Amazing.
"Mummy, how does the human body work?".... "Daddy, why does Sasha have two Mummies and no Daddy?"... "Sammy in school says girls are rubbish at football, why did he say that?"
How do we have difficult conversations with our little ones? Usually these kinds of questions pop up at the most unexpected moments: right before bed... in the supermarket!
Topics like gender equality, race, LGBTQ rights and the differences between people can seem really daunting to have at home, but if we can make space for open and simple conversations through play and music, it can make it seem a lot less scary!
In our two new songs Yes I Can and Rainbow, we wanted to address these sorts of complex issues in a fun, kind and accessible way.
With Yes I Can we started with a big discussion about the powerful influence that societal expectations and norms about gender can have over our kids. It's everywhere: from gendered kids clothing, to toys, to imaginative play and dress up! Things are slowly changing, but societal norms are still strong. My proudly long haired 5 year old nephew has been mis-gendered by strangers all his little life!
These things seem simple, but studies have shown that gender biases can shape our brains and childhood development.
Surely we all want to raise girls who can be strong or great at building things, and boys who can be sensitive and caring. Don't we want all of those brilliant traits in our kids, not just those traditionally associated with gender?
So after big discussions, we wrote this song, encouraging our little listeners that they can be and do whatever they want. An empowering song for little people of every gender!
With Rainbow, we wanted to write a song for Pride, with a simple and kid friendly message that if you can be you, and I can be me, we can all celebrate and be free!
We may not be able to help with all of those tricky questions, but using music and song at home is a great way to soften the seriousness of some of these issues.
Our new EP We're All Amazing is coming out on February 18th on Spotify, so to get it as soon as it's released presave it now!
And a huge thank you to Jessie for writing an excellent blog post. If you have any other topic requests, please let us know in the comments.