Top 5 Songs My Kids Have Introduced Me To In 2024
Having children is one of life's true gifts. They thoughtfully wake you up early so you can savour every moment of the day. They subtly damage and destroy your treasured heirlooms, giving you an opportunity to consider whether possessions truly make you happy. They manipulate and eventually come to control your music algorithms, turning your Spotify Wrapped into an annual celebration of the sound of childhood.
With this in mind, as the parent of a five year old and an eighteen month old, I present the five songs that my kids have inadvertently introduced me to in 2024.
1
River Dawn, Part 1
Catherine Marie Charlton
A piece of ambient, beautiful piano, which softly swirls around your speakers as you try to lull an angry toddler into a soothing headspace of sleep and restfulness. Let the gentle keys wash over you as you struggle to wrestle the baby into her nightclothes. Smile wistfully as the peaceful refrain repeats again over the seven minute duration, as your child punches you painfully in the eye.
2
River Dawn, Part 8
Catherine Marie Charlton
An often-overlooked track from the "River Dawn: Piano Meditations" album, Part 8 is what we parents may consider a "deep cut". Sometimes I like to let the shuffle algorithm do its work when I'm on bedtime duty, and skip the obvious follow-up to Part 1. Child development isn't linear, and neither is this album.
3
River Dawn, Part 3
Catherine Marie Charlton
River Dawn, Part 3 clocks in at fifteen minutes, which means it's the perfect accompaniment to a bedtime which isn't going so well. You know when you hear the unmistakable sound of its relaxing-yet-poignant keys, that this isn't going so well.
But let the gentle grace and melodies relax and soothe you, as your tiny child wriggles and protests in abject anger as you hum soft melodies and try to check your phone. Sleep is on the way. Probably.
4
Glance Out A Casement Window
Janet Redger
We all need a breather. River Dawn is great and all, but sometimes you start to hear its melodies and tones in your own sleep. Being a parent is hard work – so why not treat yourself? In my case, I like to sometimes switch it up and play the "Peaceful Piano" playlist on Spotify. When track 3—Glance Out A Casement Window—hits, I feel myself begin to relax even deeper, if that's possible while holding a child who firmly does not want to go to sleep. On this song, you'll appreciate the sound of the piano pedals and the ASMR-friendly breaths and movements captured by the closely-mic'd recording. Hopefully your child will also be breathing softly and happily by this point.
5
River Dawn, Part 2
Catherine Marie Charlton
But we can't forget about the classics. River Dawn: like the music they pipe in to day spas and those little shops that sell scented candles, this album will soothe you and continue to placate your furious offspring, probably. Why fight it?
- Matt
