The Limeliters And Their Life Lessons

When I was a kid we had this Limeliters record… the actual record, not the CD. I’m old.

I used to listen to it over and over on my Fisher-Price record player while carefully studying the faces of the sixties attired children on the record jacket. Glenn, Lou, Alex and their accompanying children’s choir sang songs about trains bound for glory, whaling ship adventures, lollipop trees growing in the backyard, giraffes in bubble baths, and staying on the sunny side of life. It was, and still is, one of my favorite children’s albums.

My kids got CD players for Christmas this year so I went on a search for music that they might like to listen to. In my search I unearthed this little gem of an album once again. It’s been years since I’ve listened to it. It was fun rediscovering it with my kids (on CD this time). My kids love it too.

The title song on this album is super catchy and has an important message for adults. It’s given me something to think about these days, in light of my new commitment not to yell at my kids. I find myself singing it in my head often. (It doesn’t help that my kids are playing it on their CD players 24/7).

Here are some of the words from the song:

There once was beagle, happy little beagle, following his tail around, When his mother said, “Go straight to bed, and don’t make a single sound!”
What happened to the beagle, happy little beagle, who never learned to bay?
Some burglars came and to his shame, he turned tail and ran away!

There once was a bunny, fluffy little bunny, through the piney woods he roamed.
When his father cried, “Come back inside! A bunny belongs at home!”
What happened to the bunny, fluffy little bunny, who never learned to hop?
Because that bunny couldn’t hop, he hangs in a butcher shop!

What were saying is:
Hey Jimmie Joe John Jim Jack, even little bunnies lose their knack, When somebody twice their size, can’t see the world through children’s eyes……..

Don’t do this, don’t do that, you might as well just be a statue.
That’s how children lose their spark.
But if grow ups would take part in things their children have their heart in, they’d never end up hiding in the dark.

What were saying is:
Hey Jimmie Joe John Jim Joe. When you have your own kids, let them know,
Even though you’re twice their size, you see the world through children’s eyes!

Very wise those Limeliters, eh?

In the weeks of quiet I have been enjoying in our home (and inside myself) since our commitment to stop yelling, I’ve had the chance to think a bit more contemplatively about my parenting. I think I’ve pin-pointed exactly why I yell so much. It’s simple really. I’m a control freak, an obsessive, compulsive, control freak. I have this need to control my environment, and to control the people who affect my environment most profoundly, i.e. my kids. I’m a worrier too. I worry about my kids, worry about their lives, worry about what I need to do to keep them from messing up their lives….. so I yell.

A few days ago while waiting for Mary Kate at the orthodontist, I read this article in Time magazine, which describes a relatively new, and according to this article, detrimental phenomenon, called: helicopter parenting; parenting that involves the constant hovering over ones children, supervising their every action, monitoring every decision in an effort to protect them from mistakes and to give them the edge in a competitive world. Although the examples of over-parenting given in the article were quite extreme and not at all like me, some of what the article said resonated with me. Kids need room to breath, to learn, to make mistakes and pick themselves up again. In other words; bunnies need to learn to hop… like the song says.

So I’ve come to a conclusion…… I need to chill. My new mantra: “Just chill Jill.” Like my brothers used to say to me when we were kids.

I think I am learning to chill more. One major benefit of this no yelling policy is that it is really helping me to relax, to be a bit more thoughtful in my approach to my children. It’s helping me give them a little more room to……..be. You should see how this has transformed piano practicing, just as one example. Amazing!

Just to report, I’ve only had to do three sets of sit ups so far. Not bad, eh? I think I like chillin’.