KidTunes: Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta #1 Hits: Music for Growing Families--and Beasts?
A recent article on Care2.com reported on “natural products for stressed-out pets,” and shares four recommendations from Dr. Marty Becker, “America’s Veterinarian.” Included in his suggestions is a series of CDs, Through a Dog’s Ear, designed to “calm the canine nervous system.” Hmmm…file that for future reference.
This afternoon, for the first time, I listened to Katherine Dines’ new release (out today), Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta #1 Hits: Music for Growing Families. The first thing one notices when listening to Dines sing is her reassuring voice--she is unthreatening, an artist who brings kids and their families the gift of kid-relevant songs that are easily understood.
Never alone, I was part of an audience that included six rescue animals--three dogs and three cats. Our latest canine rescue suffers from anxiety. Although Mr. Peabody takes a natural calmative, some days are better than others…and today wasn’t one of those days. Today was the kind of day that the sound of dust settling on a windowsill can set him off…until I started playing Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta #1 Hits: Music for Growing Families. The absolute insanity that one anxious animal can stir up in five others subsided near-instantly and Mr. Peabody was so relaxed he almost forgot to bark when the school bus stopped outside our house.
So if Katherine Dines can calm a savage beast, what can she do for kids and families? With songs like “Dad on Diaper Duty,” sung from the perspective of a child in a saggy diaper, and “Sheet Shakin’ Bed Quakin’ Belly Achin’ Wide Awake Blues,” she makes them laugh. They’ll giggle and get tickle-y when they hear “The Tickle Bug,” and their eyes will widen when they hear what goes into “Ooey Gooey Stew.” They may even learn something about manners and courtesy when they listen to “The Goobaws,” a song about a family so unpleasant they can make you lose your appetite.
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