A Good Musical Mix to "Parent" To

I'm continuing my series of posts leading up to the Country for Kids concert supporting the N.C. Children's Hospital on November 18th at Durham Performing Arts Center. In an effort to promote conversation on my blog, I am going to give away a CD to or make a donation in honor of someone who leaves a comment. The CD will be the latest of any of the four artists performing, James Otto, Clay Walker, Jason Michael Carrol, or Rodney Atkins.

I understand that "Parenting" is a recent verb. The other day I noticed that one of my male friends has it listed as an interest on his Facebook profile (and he is a great Dad).  I will admit that I am a slacker Mom.  I allow my child to watch hours of moderately appropriate TV on weekend mornings, pulled her out of school at lunchtime to go to the Country Throwdown, and rarely make her eat fruit, but I still love a good song about being a parent.

Darius Rucker was opening for Brad Paisley this summer.  He played his song "It won't be like this for long". I was drinking my beer, remaining nonchalant, until I turned to my friend and realized that she had tears welling up in her eye as she was singing away.  She turned to me and said "This song is so true. It's been so hard. I remember feeling like this." Of course, I teared up as well, as I can't let a girlfriend cry alone. My friend falls into the supermom category of women. She's incredibly organized, with chore lists,  TV time tickets and calendars with little illustrations of each child's activity so the child can keep track of their own week. Her children think that hamburger buns are normally whole wheat, and she pays attention and advocates with an energy level I couldn't rustle up if there were front row tickets to a George Strait concert dangling in front of me.

So, in honor of all of my supermom and slacker parent friends alike, I've put together a list of fabulous "parenting songs". Some of these are my favorites. I've added some additional recommendations from friends so it's not all country. If you have one that isn't on the list, please leave a comment!

Bette Midler, Baby Mine, video, purchase song
Brad Paisley, If He's Anything Like Me, video, purchase song
Darius Rucker, It Won't Be Like This for Long, video, purchase song
Martina McBride, In My Daughter's Eyes, video, purchase song
Rodney Atkins, Watching You, video, purchase song
Tori Amos, Ribbons Undone, purchase song
Lonestar, My Front Porch Looking In, video, purchase song
Lee Anne Womack, I Hope You Dance, video, purchase song
Cat Stevens, Father and Son, video, purchase song
Jamey Johnson, The Dollar, video, purchase song
John Sebastian, Younger Generation, video, purchase song
Trace Adkins, You're Gonna Miss This, video, purchase song
Tim McGraw, My Little Girl, video, purchase song
The Cast of Fiddler on the Roof, Sunrise Sunset, video, purchase song
Harry Chapin, Cat's in the Cradle, video, purchase song
Jason Michael Carroll, Hurray Home, video, purchase song
Heartland, I Loved Her First, video, purchase song


I included the "purchase song" link to Amazon just to make your life easier. I'm not making any money from that.
Remember, leave a comment!

11/16 I added some additional songs, two from a commenter's recommendation. Now can anyone tell me why there are so few good songs about being a parent, sung by women, or am I just biased toward male singers?