Experiencing Pop-Culture Through A Four-Year-Old Filter

A few months back, I recounted a hilarious and/or horrifying episode involving David (The Fourth Son), James (The Fifth Son), the Just Dance 2 game on our Wii, and The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.”

Fast forward to a few days ago, when Cormac was storming ’round the living room belting out “Walk Like The Giff·i·ans!!!” at the top of his lungs. At first, right after I realized that he was offering his own particular pronunciation/translation of the Bangles but right before I made the JD2 connection, I couldn’t (for the life of me) figure out where he’d even heard that song. Then, I realized it could have been Katy Perry and counted my blessings.

The fact that he’d heard (and sorta-memorized) the Bangles’ song wasn’t the only thing that surprised me, though. The real mind-blower was that he was performing an eerily accurate imitation of the “dance” that accompanied it. Or at least I thought it was eerily accurate…until I saw David trying his hand at (and absolutely nailing) it a few minutes later.  (That boy has a real gift for physical mimicry. And he’s not bad with voices, either.)

As I watched Cormac so thoroughly enjoying himself to the sounds of a 30-year-old pop-cultural artifact that I’m not sure I’d given more than two seconds of thought before that moment, I realized that his filter lets almost everything through, at this stage. He’s unburdened by any preconceptions or prejudices or questions of taste (or desires to appear to have taste). Many/most things make him happy right now. And if something makes him happy, he’s for it. He’s all in.

So am I. In fact, that’s one of the coolest things about parenting, for me. I get to see things through the eyes of a child again, pretty much every day. I love it. …at least when we’re talking ’bout The Bangles. I feel like I might have to think about drawing the line when we start getting to “Fireworks,” though. (And fireworks.)

That’s also why this story reminds me of one of the scariest things about parenting, though. Because I’m also responsible for helping shape/form the filter through which he’s experiencing the world. Which is that’s probably why I quickly found myself thinking something that I’ve thought with regularity ever since Dominic (The First Son) was born:

“Somebody needs to get that kid a parent. And soon.”

Yes, by “with regularity,” I mean “pretty much every minute of every day.” And that hasn’t gotten any easier as the number of Susanka Boys has increased. Quite the opposite, in fact. But that’s why we have prayer, right? (Also, yes. Cormac’s jumping in that picture. Because he specifically asked me to take a picture of him while he was jumping. Besides, he’s barely touching the ground most days, anyway. So that’s pretty much what he looks like.)

Attribution(s): “Cormac Jumping” is my picture. So is “Cormac Being Mischievous/Himself.”