Why You Shouldn’t Watch American Idol with a 4 Year Old

Posted on 03 16, 2007 under The Manual by Noodad |

american-idolI admit it. I'm one of the tens of millions of Americans who, faithfully every week, watch American Idol. There are many reasons why American Idol takes first priority on my television every tuesdays and wednesdays: I like the music (don't we all love  to hear the same Stevie Wonder and Donna Summers songs every year?), I like Paula Abdul (I can't get past my boyhood crush from the Cold Hearted video) , and I like the shameless product placement (hey, I'm in advertising, what do you expect?).

But my most favorite past time when it comes to American Idol is to be catty. After day in and day out of life's B.S., don't we all deserve the right to blatantly criticize these 12 attention-hungry, fame-grubbing young adults every week? I like to criticize the way they make that weird face when they sing the high notes, their poor choice of song arrangements, and their poor wardrobe choices. And God help them when they forget their words. Boy does my TV get an earful! It's not anger, it's entertainment. That's the reality tv way! That's my pleasure.


That is why it was a bad idea to watch American Idol with my 4 year old daughter this past week. It started innocent at first. As a reward for being a good little girl all day my daughter was allowed to stay up until 8:30. Which means as her little brother was sound asleep, she was allowed to sit next to Daddy on the couch and watch the first 3 singers of the night.

{mosnooad}My daughter likes to sing. And she likes to look at girls in sparkly dresses. Truth be told, any TV that isn't animated or filled with puppets, is a novelty to her. I bet she could sit through the entire hour of the Miracle Blade infomercial with her eyes wide open and her jaw dropped to the floor. So she was already open to new things.

Everything started out well—she met Ryan Seacrest for the first time. She liked Paula too (probably because Paula is the only female judge). But when the singers took the stage, that's when things got complicated.

As the first singer, Brandon, gave his piss poor performance, my daughter sat their eyes glued to him, watching his every move. This was big time for her with the bright lights, big stage, and video screens. She also commented on how the crowd was clapping for him. But when the judges started criticizing, and the crowd started booing , things got ugly in the Ng household.

See, if it was just my wife and I, here's what I would say:
"I thought Brandon had potential when we saw him at the Hollywood stage, but after tonight, I think he sucks ass."

But here's what I had to say:
"Sweetie, the judges didn't think he sang as good as he could have. They knew he tried real hard but they thought he could have sung better."

It's not easy fellas. Holding back your real feelings to preserve the innocence of your kids is a sometimes humbling, but necessary, duty of parenthood. So do yourself a favor and don't even set yourself up for that type of conflict. That's why you shouldn't watch American Idol with your 4 year old.

 

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