I’ve been brainwashing our children. For some time now, I’ve been playing them a CD I purposefully crafted with love your life, be strong & kick ass type messages. Essentially, a playlist for raising confident kids. And it’s working. My daughter wails “Roar” by Katy Perry with such depth, it brings this proud mama to tears. She, straight up, nails it. The other day, on our drive up to the beach, I overheard our son in the back seat trying to keep up with Elton John’s classic words, “I’m still standing – yeah, yeah, yeah.” I looked over at Husband and slyly said, “It’s working. I have subconsciously raised confident kids through music brainwashing.” And because we’re all in the car, we all sing it and becomes a message we are all speaking.
Now, I’m aware that there is no scientific proof that a playlist could actually help me raise confident kids but if reading books about strong characters can change the ways kids see themselves then why couldn’t music? When my daughter walks around singing, “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire, ’cause I am the champion, and you’re gonna hear me roar,” I believe she is absorbing some of that in. Words are powerful; songs even more so. It may not be proven that music can make my kids confident but it is one more thing I can feed them, like a bowl of musical Wheaties, to strengthen their awareness of how amazing and kick ass they are already.
THE GREATEST
by Sia ft. Kendrick Lamar
Kickass message >> D O N O T G I V E U P
Uh-oh, running out of breath, but I / Oh, I, I got stamina / Uh-oh, running now, I close my eyes / Well, oh, I got stamina / And uh-oh, I see another mountain to climb / But I, I, I got stamina
....I'm free to be the greatest, I'm alive I'm free to be the greatest here tonight, the greatest
BRAVE
by Sarah Bareilles
Kickass message >> S P E A K O U T & B E B R A V E
Don’t run, stop holding your tongue / Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live / Maybe one of these days you can let the light in / Show me / How big your brave is
WHITE FLAG
by Joseph
Kickass message >> N E V E R S U R R E N D E R
Noises closing in from all sides / Warning all the ways to die / They say “you’d better give up / You’d better give up” / I say, “I’ll never give up, I’ll never give up”
I’ll be an army, no you’re / Not gonna stop me getting / through / I’ll sing a marching song and / stomp through the halls louder than / You
I could surrender but I’d / Just be pretending, no I’d / Rather be dead than live a lie / Burn the white flag
TRY EVERYTHING
by Shakira
Kickass message >> F A I L U R E H A P P E N S – T R Y A N Y W A Y
Look how far you’ve come, you filled your heart with love / Baby you’ve done enough, take a deep breath / Don’t beat yourself up, don’t need to run so fast / Sometimes we come last, but we did our best
ROAR
by Kate Perry
Kickass message >> Y O U G O T T H I S P U R E C O N F I D E N C E
I went from zero, to my own hero / You held me down, but I got up (hey!) / Already brushing off the dust / You hear my voice, your hear that sound / Like thunder, gonna shake the ground
ME TOO
by Meghan Trainor
Kickass message >> P U R E C O N F I D E N C E
I thank God every day / That I woke up feelin’ this way / And I can’t help lovin’ myself / And I don’t need nobody else, nuh uh
UNWRITTEN
by Natasha Bedingfield
Kickass message >> Y O U R S T O R Y M A T T E R S
Feel the rain on your skin / No one else can feel it for you / Only you can let it in / No one else, no one else / Can speak the words on your lips
EYE OF THE TIGER
by Survivor
Kickass message >> D O N ‘ T L O S E F O C U S
Went the distance, now I’m back on my feet / Just a man and his will to survive
WAKA WAKA
by Shakira
Kickass message >> B E L I E V E I N Y O U R S E L F
The pressure is on / You feel it / But you’ve got it all / Believe it / When you fall, get up (oh oh) / And if you fall, get up (eh eh)
I’M STILL STANDING
by Elton John
Kickass message >> I ‘ M S T I L L H E R E
Don’t you know / I’m still standing better than I ever did / Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid / I’m still standing after all this time / Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind.
SURVIVOR
by Destiny’s Child
Kickass message >> L I V E O N Y O U R T E R M S
Thought that I would fail without you / But I'm on top / Thought it would be over by now / But it won't stop / Thought that I would self destruct / But I'm still here / Even in my years to come / I'm still gon be here
FIREWORK
by Katy Perry
Kickass message >> I G N I T E Y O U R L I G H T
You don’t have to feel like a waste of space / You’re original, cannot be replaced / If you only knew what the future holds / After a hurricane comes a rainbow
THE FIGHTER
by Gym Class Heroes
Kickass message >> N E V E R Q U I T
Give ’em hell, turn their heads / Gonna live life till we’re dead / Give me scars, give me pain / Then just say to me, say to me, say to me / There goes a fighter, there goes a fighter
FIGHT SONG
by Rachel Patton
Kickass message >> K E E P F I G H T I N G
I might only have one match / But I can make an explosion
I am always looking for more kickass songs. What would you add to the list?
