Most days, our family’s soundtrack is less melodic and more escaped-zoo-monkeys meets low-rate internet jingles, with a dash of clanging pots and pans. As a family of 5 (going on 6), there are a lot of different interests competing with each other, and nobody seems to want to watch or listen to the same thing at the same time.
Enter Beat Bugs.
The day I saw the trailer for Beat Bugs, I was excited just for me. Forget the whole having kids part. I was excited to show Scott! I mean, I can appreciate the Beatles, but Scott is a real fan of their music. I think that’s one of the first things I learned about him when we started dating.
Beat Bugs is sponsoring this post, and bringing us an original series on Netflix that lets us watch and listen to just. one. thing. TOGETHER. And it’s glorious.
You guys, Beat Bugs is a unicorn in the world of “kids” shows right now. I put “kids” in quotes because this is a show for anyone, any age, who can get down with a beautifully animated series based on songs inspired by the Beatles- music that has stood the test of time for a reason. And? Artists like P!nk and Eddie Vedder are singing the lyrics. Yeah, don’t tell me you have to be under the age of 10 to love that.
So here’s how this scene went down in our house:
Scott popped the popcorn, I told the kids to bring down their beanbags, and I queued up the first episode on Netflix. There was a little grumbling from all 3. This wasn’t x show or y show or z show! Of course, none of them like watching the same shows, and each thought we should be putting THEIR favorite on first.
Whatever, we ignored them because that is our favorite parenting move. I hit play, Scott sat on the sofa with the popcorn (which Lowell promptly commandeered), and we just let them find their own chill while we thoroughly enjoyed the familiar tunes.
As if by magic (or by music), they each migrated to a comfy spot and began, like, watching the show, quietly. Scott and I didn’t say a word. It was… so calm. This went on for TWO FULL EPISODES! WHAT EVEN IS THIS LIFE?
Because it’s not our usual life.
It’s not just the noise, it’s the finding something in common. We can’t all 5 agree on what to eat for dinner, what movie to see, or how to spend what little free time we have together. Between baseball practices, homework, friends, and work, I feel like our young family is already being pulled in a million different directions. They are still babies (well, relatively)! It shouldn’t be this hard.
So when something comes along that makes us all stop and experience it together, that’s a treasure.
Please note the lurking 8 year old on the stairs.
Y’all, as I type this, I have the Beat Bugs Facebook page open in another tab. All 3 kids just wandered into the office (as they typically do when I am working), and they begged me to go through each and every clip on the page and play it for them. P!nk’s version of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” is the crowd favorite, FYI.
They don’t know who the Beatles are. I don’t think they’ve ever really heard these songs before. And yet? They’re still drawn to them because GOOD MUSIC. And you know what is awesome about good music? It sounds a lot better than escaped-zoo-monkeys, low-rate internet jingles, and clanging pots and pans to all of us.
Thank you, Beat Bugs, for giving our family a show we all love and our soundtrack a much needed overhaul.