Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Laura Doherty "Kids in the City"


There's something that happens to a lot of parents in major cities like Chicago when their kid turns around two and they're getting ready to have another child. They come to a major crossroads in their lives and decide whether they want to stay in the city or move out of the city. My husband and I just like many other people we know decided we wanted to raise our daughter in the city. While we mourn not having a big yard, easy errands, and a school our daughter can walk to, we celebrate music, art, theater, alternative lifestyles, and culture everywhere we look. (Note: these things do exist outside of the city but I don't think to the degree that most major cities have them.)

That is one reason I give props to Laura Doherty and her newest CD "Kids in the City" Using Chicago as her inspiration, Doherty writes about the El Train, skyscrapers, the Farmer’s Market, the zoo (Lincoln Park), and all the wonders of the city, as seen through a child’s eyes.
My favorate song on the cd is "I spy".

Doherty is also the director of the Wiggleworms program at the Old Town
School of Folk Music in Chicago and has been teaching in the program for over a decade.
In Chicago, taking a Wiggleworms class is like a rite of passage for parents/babies. I'm not just saying that either because I am a Wiggleworms instructor. Anyways, Doherty also co-produced and performed on the CD “Wiggleworms Love You”, a Parent’s Choice
Award winner.

"Old McDonald", "Down by the Bay" will always be standards in the kids music world, but I think there's still plenty of room for new themes for the urban child.

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