I was at a preschool today and saw a sign that made me laugh. The sign read “Days without someone singing a song from Frozen” and the number under it was zero. I took pity on those teachers as I take pity on every adult who has had to hear a Frozen song over and over and over. Of course the biggest sonic ear worm on that soundtrack is “Let It Go”! Don’t get me wrong, it is a very nice song. The problem is after hearing it a billion times both from the soundtrack itself and from the mouth of a small child, it’s niceness wears off quickly. I know adults who would rather have their own ears removed then hear that song again.
Sadly I know what they are going through all too well. When I was a preschool teacher, The Little Mermaid was all the rage as was its very catchy soundtrack. I will admit, the songs from that movie are great and are now classics. However at the time, I would have given anything not to hear them ever again. We had a ton of CDs in our collection, but every day (usually a few times a day), the kids would beg and plead to hear “Little Mermaid”. Being the nice guy that I am, I always obliged (well except for that one week where I just couldn’t take it anymore and the CD got temporarily “lost”) and played it over and over.
As a result, the songs became stuck in my head and I could do nothing to remove them. I would be doing paperwork, and all of a sudden start humming “Under the Sea” or I would be at a restaurant with a date and the song “Part of Your World” would start playing in my head (ironically the song “Kiss the Girl” never played in those situations!) It got to the point where those songs that at first seemed fun and exciting, became the soundtrack to my nightmares.
The amazing part of all this is that while adults get repetitive stress disorder from hearing these songs over and over, kids never grow tired of them. That is why my preschoolers had me play that Mermaid CD till we almost wore it out (an outcome I often prayed for) and that is why today kids constantly listen to and sing Frozen songs and will do so until the next ice age.
As adults, our goal is to make kids happy, so we will let them sing and listen to their heart’s content to the songs that make us shudder. The teachers who put up that sign that I mentioned, did so in good humor, but I know they are anything but happy about it, and I really feel for those poor unfortunate souls (see what I did there?)