ATTN Parents: How does it effect your music hobby?

tribewalker · Post by **tribewalker** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:31 pm

RIGHT ON!

i would go number four, behind kenny G

dazzer · Post by **dazzer** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:36 am

I have a 5 week old daughter.
As the days pass she seems to sleep less and less.
The closest I get to making music at the moment is browsing this forum for 15 minutes with my HD25s on so I get 15 minutes of peace after work! (Don't worry, her mum is taking care of her while I'm not.)

Still, love her to bits.

But damn, I REALLY have to learn to be more patient, and quickly!

My level of respect for my wife is MASSIVE, she seems to take it all in her stride and doesn't have the diversion of work to give her a break. Man, I love my wife.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:59 am

I was the primary caregiver of my son when he was two for about a year. I can honestly say that women who choose to stay at home have the hardest job on the planet. Huge respect goes out to moms everywhere, even Mr. Moms who make the flip and stay home to let their wives go to work. Raising kids is the best and hardest job.

And believe me, when you find those precious few moments to work on music, they will mean that much more.

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:23 am

nebulae wrote:I was the primary caregiver of my son when he was two for about a year. I can honestly say that women who choose to stay at home have the hardest job on the planet. Huge respect goes out to moms everywhere, even Mr. Moms who make the flip and stay home to let their wives go to work. Raising kids is the best and hardest job.

Mr. Mom, huh? What a strange term... My and my wife split the maternity/paternity leave (which in Sweden is about a year and a half depending on how you household with the funding) 50/50. And from Alva's first day in kindergarten - I've been working four days a week, and my wife full time. I wanna spend time with her! And fortunately we have a social welfare system which states that it's important and allows for it.

Still, only 14% of the maternity/paternity leave is being used by men. I just don't get that...

-M

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:46 pm

Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:
nebulae wrote:And fortunately we have a social welfare system which states that it's important and allows for it.

Still, only 14% of the maternity/paternity leave is being used by men. I just don't get that...

-M

At least you have a system that values children first. In the US, you get six weeks. The saddest part of my day is when I hear my neighbors (who have two little kids) take the kids to day care at 6:30 am, so both can work, and then they get home around 6:30-7pm at night. These kids are without their parents for about 12 hours a day, just so the parents can work. So so sad.

Of course, I just heard that the family next door is splitting up, so I guess their wonderful plan didn't quite work out...

NorthernMonkey · Post by **NorthernMonkey** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:04 pm

nebulae wrote:
Lo-Fi Massahkah wrote:And fortunately we have a social welfare system which states that it's important and allows for it.

Still, only 14% of the maternity/paternity leave is being used by men. I just don't get that...

-M
At least you have a system that values children first. In the US, you get six weeks. The saddest part of my day is when I hear my neighbors (who have two little kids) take the kids to day care at 6:30 am, so both can work, and then they get home around 6:30-7pm at night. These kids are without their parents for about 12 hours a day, just so the parents can work. So so sad.

Of course, I just heard that the family next door is splitting up, so I guess their wonderful plan didn't quite work out...

In the UK fathers get next to nothing, paternity leave was only introduced four years ago...

Father: 'But Prime Minister, my wife's just given birth, I'd really like to spend some time with them to establish some early bonding.'
Prime Minister: 'Get the fuck back to work you lazy bastard and keep paying those taxes.'

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:09 pm

NorthernMonkey wrote: Father: 'But Prime Minister, my wife's just given birth, I'd really like to spend some time with them to establish some early bonding.'
Prime Minister: 'Get the fuck back to work you lazy bastard and keep paying those taxes.'

Well, your Prime Minister is indeed our bitch, so there ya go...

dm · Post by dm » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:17 pm

lovely thread! i have a 3 month old son, and since his birth i've certainly had less time to spend on music, but not zero. i still squeeze in time to start projects, just finishing them takes longer than usual. but it's all good! i can't wait till he's a bit older and i can show him what his daddy likes to do with his creative juices!

NorthernMonkey · Post by **NorthernMonkey** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:20 pm

dm wrote:i can't wait till he's a bit older and i can show him what his daddy likes to do with his creative juices!

There's something slightly disturbing about that...

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:21 pm

NorthernMonkey wrote:
dm wrote:i can't wait till he's a bit older and i can show him what his daddy likes to do with his creative juices!
There's something slightly disturbing about that...

No doubt! Daddy, keep the juices in yer pants. Geez...

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:24 pm

cannone wrote:Great topic!

You'll see....everyone is all about playing classical music to babies b/c of a (flawed) study that showed an increase in IQ. We tried that with my first son and he CRIED AND CRIED. So to drown out his crying (for our sakes) we cranked some trance. He went right to sleep. The louder the better. (My theory...the drums were similar to the maternal heartbeat).

As far as my music.....I basically had to turn it down (headphones, turn the guitar amp off) when they were babies (my 2 sons) so I didn't wake them. But now (they're 4 and 2 yrs) I crank it and they love it. It's actually really fun...my youngest will sit on my lap when I'm mastering a track on Ableton. He thinks it's so fun......

So basically: yeah. It's going to affect it.....but music is a GREAT thing (I think we all agree with that here). Exposure to it early as a child does wonders for brain development and other things (math skills, self confidence, logical thought). It's a great gift you can give your daughter.....you will both have fun with it as she get's older.

Think how cool.....spin her a downtempo mix for naptime.....then you're with her and she gets some great tunes to nap to.

Congrats early. Fatherhood is the best.

Cannon

Having a enough time for music...

This has crossed my mind as well since we are expecting a boy in about 5 weeks... This will be my 2nd child after having a girl 17yrs ago... Feeling a huge mix of emotions about the arrival of our baby... Not only music but other facets of my life will have to take the backburner for a little while...

Back to your quote...

I have thought the same thing and hopefully will have an ambient track finished before Orion arrives... My idea will be called "tune from the womb"... Backbeat (thump thump) will be based on my wife's heart rate and white noise swooshes for blood flow... Gurgling bubbly sounds for the stomach (I should read thru the Best synth for farts thread)... I'll just loop it and add some other sounds as well...

We took some prenatal classes and saw a video on soothing a baby... The thing that blew me away in the video was this shrink shoooshing (ssshhhhhhhhh) the baby really loud and inch or two from it's ear... The shrink was doing this as the baby was crying then bing the baby stops crying so I gues they love the white noise... I was a little concerned for the kid's hearing as he did this loud and close to the ear...

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:32 pm

Orion is a cool name!

cosmosuave · Post by **cosmosuave** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:54 pm

nebulae wrote:Orion is a cool name!

Thanks... Middle name is Bastille since we figured he was concieved on Bastille day while vacationing this past summer in France while consuming copious amounts of champagne... Can't wait once he get's older that we tell him how he assumed his middle name...

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:24 pm

i still squeeze in time to start projects, just finishing them takes longer than usual. but it's all good!

obscurityknocks · Post by **obscurityknocks** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:24 pm

Good thread.

My wife and I had our first child around 6 months ago, and it's great, but definitely a hardcore lifechange as everyone says. (the 18-20 hours of sleep for the baby was definitely not happening)

BUT---strangely enough, I'm actually accomplishing MORE on music than before the birth, I think because now the free time is at such a premium, that I use as much of the available time I can for music. Lunch break, subway commute, if baby is taking a nap, if bottle-feeding holding bottle with left hand, have keyboard/laptop by the right side,etc....

The second thing is it forces me to always choose the route that gives the most bang for the buck--namely, WRITING SONGS TO COMPLETION, rather than experimenting for experimenting sake as much. Now if I'm experimenting, it's for the sake of making the song better--and I'm learning more new skills in this way.

The guitar player in my band also just had a baby, and wrote me and the bass player "not to worry"--he had his practice guitar in the delivery room, and was "keeping up his chops" while his wife went through labor. (!) Definitely psychotic, but Hell--you do what you have to do.

No more uninterrupted all nighters, perhaps, but you can allow your passion to still make it happen!