Do babies *need* pastel/primary colors and "baby music"?

In My Humble Opinion
1

First, let me prefact this by saying that I have no kids, I don’t want kids of my own, and I know very little about them, so if this is kind of a dingbat question, please forgive me. :slight_smile: I’ve just always been curious.

I notice that most parents/daycare centers/etc. seem to surround babies/toddlers with pastel colors (or primary colors as they get older) and particular types of music I’ll call “baby music” as a shorthand–either soft stringy-type stuff or else bouncy “kiddie” music.

Just hypothetically, if I had a baby and decided to do his/her room in black, gray, and red (for example) and subject him to a diet of my favorite music (which happens to be industrial/EBM, hard rock, and the more melodic end of the heavy-metal spectrum–all at baby-appropriate volume, of course, since I’d have no intention of blasting the hypothetical kid’s little ears off) Let’s further assume that he’s getting everything else he needs in terms of good food, warm clothes, love, etc (except he’s wearing black onesies with band logos and irreverent sayings instead of pastel blue with duckies). ) Would he suffer any ill effects? Would he be more likely to grow up maladjusted/depressed/an axe murderer than his buddy raised on pastels, duckies, and terminally boring baby music?

Okay, I’m phrasing this a bit facetiously, but it’s a serious question. I really want to know. Are the pastel-and-duckies trappings for the baby’s benefit, or for the parent’s?

2

:smack: That was supposed to be “preface” up there, not “prefact.”

3

I don’t have kids either, but I really don’t think these kinds of fads (and I do think it’s a fad), are essential to a baby’s development. Some of the greatest minds in history grew up in a time where all they had for stimulation were the sights and sounds of their natural enviromnent - blue sky, flowers, wind, plants, animals, people talking, etc, etc. Some people seem to believe that these days, if you don’t go out and buy a “Baby Einstein” video for your toddler, they won’t be as smart as others who did. I’m not condemning these things as bad, but it’s kind of creepy that some people seem to think that it’s absoulutely necessary to have, so your kid doesn’t turn out dumb.

4

My first kid got bright, non-primary colors right from the start. There was a “black and white-mobiles-only” phase in child rearing books at the time, which I considered bunk.

So the sheets were realistic jungle scene prints, with multicolored trees full of snakes and monkeys and multicolored fruit, etc. I never worried about music, just played music for myself. At the time, people were pushing classical Brahms for babies. Which is probably fine, but I never cared about it.

But then I also missed most of the trends. We didn’t talk baby talk to the kids, nor fuss and laugh over how cute their attempts at difficult words. None of my kids were taught about the tooth fairy, nor that Santa was real and would actually visit, etc.

To my mind, reality is the best way to prepare kids for reality, and you shouldn’t submerge your own taste by “babying it down”.

5

Good luck finding an entire wardrobe of black baby clothes! That sounds expensive; novelty onesies are a lot more pricey than a 3-pack from Target.

It is now widely known that newborn babies can pretty much only see black, white, and red. For this reason, there are a lot of black/white/red toys out there for newborns, and as they get older, you find very brightly colored toys. An infant’s vision does not really “get” to pastels for several months. So, while pastels are considered culturally appropriate for babies, it has nothing to do with their development, and everything to do with our perceptions of what is babyish. There are historical reasons for this.* Bright colors are in fact more what they like. Decorating a baby’s room entirely in black, grey, and red would probably not be any too exciting for the little one, however, and while I would not recommend doing the whole thing in wild patterns either, babies do like to look at pictures of animals and people. (We seem to be programmed to recognize faces and other features, so the simplified drawings you get on baby items are actually quite appropriate, and leaving the entire room without them wouldn’t be much fun. Photographs are a little too complex for babies, so simple drawings are the next best thing to reality.)

So, on to music. We now know that people need to hear simple melodies and rythyms before they become able to appreciate more complex forms. The clapping games and nursery rhymes and simple songs for children are actually exactly what they need, and they need them most from real people (without all the cluttering background stuff or ‘kiddiefying’ on many kids’ CDs). Playing classical music is frequently soothing and melodic enough for them to enjoy. An infant does not need Raffi, though older kids (preschoolers) love him, but she does need to hear simple, repetitive songs with an obvious rythym. Kids generally like a wise variety of music, and there’s no need whatsoever to restrict their fare to Children’s Music, but I don’t think a steady diet of hard rock would be optimal for a baby’s developing brain. Also, most kids like songs they can sing themselves about things they understand: food, families, dinosaurs, animals, plants, and so on, so it wouldn’t be good to restrict their music to songs with incomprehensible adult themes.

*Once upon a time, babies were dressed entirely in white. In the days of handwashing, white was easiest to bleach and maintain, while colors faded, and a wide range of dyes wasn’t available anyway. In the early part of the 20th century, theories about child-rearing reached their height in the emphasis on cleanliness and not-too-much-stimulation. Children’s rooms were thought to be best furnished entirely in white, with perhaps some blue, and few decorations. Easy scrubbing and a clean, light atmosphere was the goal–parlty because we were coming out of generations of dim, dirty, cramped housing. With a few centuries of “babies-belong-in-white” behind us, pastels were the preferred way to bring in decoration, especially when, in the 1930’s, light colors became available for the first time.

6

Well, I do have a son. And when I was pregnant, I specifically told people NO PASTELS! I don’t like pastels. I don’t like “baby music.” I don’t even like most lullabys.

My son’s room was painted a cream color with brick red trim and border paper that brick red and midnight blue with Labrador retriever puppies on it. It was not “cutesy” or even in the least bit “babyish”. It looked like a 5 year old’s room.

I did NOT play Mozart for him in utero…I played AC/DC, Led Zepplin, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon and Jimmy Buffet. Basically I just kept listening to all the great music I liked and hoped some of it would rub off. After he was born I used to sing him to sleep with “St. Judy’s Comet” by Paul Simon and my husband used to sing “Magaritaville” to him.

I dressed my child in real clothes eveyday from the beginning. He didn’t go out in jammies or just a diaper and undershirt. He was stylish (within our budget…eBay rocks). If I could have found a black sleeper with the AC/DC logo on it, though, he would have had it!

He’s six now and as bright as any other first grader at his school, and definetly more outgoing and self-confident than most. He doesn’t like AC/DC or Fleetwood Mac, but really likes Led Zepplin and jazz. He was never into Barney, the Wiggles (ugh!) and other mind numbing kiddie shows, although he did take to Thomas the Tank Engine. I didn’t mind Thomas because it was fairly intelligent.

I think he’s doing just fine.

7

I was under the impression that at some point babies or young children can benefit from strong colours as ‘eye exercise’. Is that completely wrong then?

8

I have one son, age 6 months. It is my opinion that 90% of baby products out there are for the benefit of the adult, not the baby. That’s not to say I don’t buy any of it, I enjoy buying him cute clothes and toys, but I know full well that it doesn’t matter at all to him.

There are fads that come and go with baby products, but there is very little that they must have. Keep them warm and fed, give them a place to sleep, and interaction and love from Mom and Dad and they will be fine and happy.

9

There Will Be No Baby Music In My House When Baby Barbarian Is Born In Late April/early May. This, I Command!

10

Not all baby music is created equally, though. Try this song for example- a lot of adults like it too. After working with preschoolers, I can tell you some songs are a lot less painful to adults than others. Skip “Baby Beluga” but don’t rule out “Six Little Ducks” or “Skin and Bones” by Raffi. If your library lends cds, you could probably find music that both you and the little one could stand :slight_smile:

11

Well, I remember that my little sister liked it when we put a Marine Corps running cadence tape into a Teddy Ruxpin doll. And there’s another doper here who said that a recording of the Soviet national anthem (performed by the Red Army Chorus) was the only thing that put his baby daughter to sleep, so there’s that.
Ranchoth
(I wanna be a drill instructor…)

12

Yup, said the same thing myself. The only “kiddie music” we have is A Child’s Celebration of Song. It’s an amazing album. We also have volume 2. It’s real music. Not that cutesy stuff.

I enjoy listening to it as much as Charlie does.

13

Of course they don’t and of course they won’t turn out to be axe murderers if you don’t pop in Baby Einstein.

Loads of other cultures never raise their kids with this stuff and their children seem just fine to me.

I think Velma’s post is right on.

I do think one thing:
Parents shouldn’t overly impose their tastes on their children. If your kid really digs Barney, go with it. Don’t try and make your kid to be the cool Jack Nicholson type if it’s not in their personality. I saw a kid at the mall the other day. He was about 3 and had a mohawky thing going and a pierced ear and a leather coat. I just think kids should be allowed to be kids. There’s plenty of time later for ‘cool’ stuff.

14

Of course, the OP should also take into consideration the possibility–nay, near-certainty–that the kid will reject all that his parent loves and go with the opposite. It is possible that by this method he will produce a teenager who insists on listening to nothing but Christian pop. :smiley:

15

One family had done the nursery in their tartan, from crib sheets to walls. The baby was horribly over stimulated. They remove mush of the plaid and the baby was able to sleep and not be a crying mess all the time.

While pastels are not required, a limit on bold patterns may be wise.

16

My post was supposed to be in ALL CAPS. For some reason the board does not let me post in ALL CAPS.

elfkin, that song was horrid! And it’s now stuck in my brain even though I only listened to the chorus.

Poop in the potty, poop goes in the potty

17

More than once, Vunderkind was rocked to sleep in my arms while I sang Hotel California. Jimmy Buffett would have been fine, too, but I was not yet a Parrothead at that time. Although, Margaritaville would have been better than The Asshole Song…

18

There’s always this site:

www.tshirthell.com/babyhell.shtml

19

When UvulaDaughter was a cranky little spawn, I would rock her in my arms and sing Pink Floyd’s *Comfortably Numb * to her, and it would lull her to sleep every time.

Last year, for her 14th birthday, I got her *The Wall * on CD. I asked her a few days later how she liked it, and she said the whole CD was great, but there was one song on it that made her drowsy whenever she listened to it, and she couldn’t figure out why. :smiley:

20

Heh. I’m not necessarily doubting you, but based on experience, many of those “high horse” notions you have before you have children seem to fall away after you have them.