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All Toddlers Are Hippies

When I was childless, one of my greatest fears of parenthood was that I'd have to attend kiddy music sing-alongs. As it turned out, I didn't know what I'd been missing.

Every Wednesday night there is a kids' music concert in our local ice cream parlor. A very nice woman named Susan Kessey sets up a tiny little stage with her guitar and her microphone, as well as another microphone on a stand about two feet high, as though Billy Barty was going to make a guest appearance singing backup, but no such luck, of course, it is just an open mike for any child with dreams of glory.

Susan also provides several baskets of party supplies: drums, shakers, xylophones, tambourines, kazoos and other instruments; plus a pile of wild scarves and costume jewelry. You can say one thing, she knows her audience. These kids have come to party.

I was unprepared for the wave of pure hedonistic abandon that washed over us the first time we walkedthrough that door. It was a scene to rival the best rock concerts I've ever attended, and that is saying something.

There was free-form dancing, group drumming, nakedness, costumes, scarves, painted faces, and even a couple of kids standing alone in a corner talking to themselves or to imaginary entities. And every last one of 'em stoned to the gills on ice cream. Hopped up on raspberry ripple; tripping on mint chip. So high you'd need a stepladder just to check their diapers.

Susan had the crowd in the palm of her hand as she reeled off one hit after another. "Old McDonald." "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" ... they just don't write songs like these any more. The children were dancing in the aisles and stomping on their chairs, and many played along on whatever instrument was handy; it didn't matter. One little boy duck-walked the floor like Chuck Berry as he wailed away in a free-jazz ecstasy on a one-stringed plastic ukelele. He didn't even bother to stop between songs.

The kids bellowed out requests like drunks at a piano bar, and Susan did not let them down. A rousing chorus of "The Wheels On The Bus Go 'Round and 'Round" had the joint jumping, and the quick segue into "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" brought the house down with its synchronized hand gestures.

A hush fell over the crowd as Susan paused to tune her guitar, and a three year-old boy named Gus took the stage to sing "I've Been Working On The Railroad." Although heavily prompted by his mother at the back of the room, Gus got off to a rocky start in the first verse, but he began to hit his stride during the "Dinah Wontcha Blow" section. Feeding off the seething energy of the toddler mosh pit in front of the stage, he careened through the "Fee-Fi-Fiddly-Eye-O" out-chorus, giving it all he had before collapsing in a heap at the song's end.

The stage was set for the Big Finish, and and there were squeals of delight as Susan launched into the opening strains of "The Hokey Pokey." It was a real show-stopper, and when the house lights came up, the kids just about had to be poured into their strollers.

I highly recommend taking your young child to such a gathering. Group musical participation is critical to child development, especially if it provides an opportunity for you to eat ice cream.

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© Todd Pinsky 1998-2002. All rights reserved.