Baby Shark

If you are a parent, aunt, uncle, or grandparent...or if you have any association with children at all! Or have friends on social media that are associated with children...then chances are that you know this song! Is it annoying? Is it catching? Is it a lifesaver? Or is it just pure genius? The answer is yes! Yes! Yes!...and um, yes!...plus more!

As many other people, I became aware of this song once I became a mom to a rambunctious toddler, and simultaneously became a toddler teacher around the same time...but apparently it has been around waaaay before that! It seems that the cheerleaders of social media came out and declared that they used the song before it's sudden explosion of popularity amongst the little ones. I also recently seen an ab workout to this song that are still used by cheerleaders today (ask one of little cousins). This workout (which completely peaked my interest because it looked affective, and intense) is actually quite amusing when you get on the floor and try it out.

Go on...try it! Make the new trend of "Ordinary out of shape people doing the Baby Shark ab challenge" It's probably much more amusing and safer than dressing up as a shark and doing the dance moves, whilst walking along with a moving car, right?

Anyways....let's move on...

Annoying? YES! Catching? Yes!

Do you know this lamb? Did you watch her as a child? I did. Her name is Lamb Chops. And she too had a song that children loved to sing. A song that annoyed parents, older siblings, you name it. It is the song that never ends, and rightfully so. Baby Shark is its replacement! It's so annoying! Children love it! And they want to listen to it over, and over, and over again! And it invades your head, and won't leave! Ever! Just typing this up now, I have both songs stuck in my head! Which is doubling annoying!

Is it catching? Well, yeah! It has to be to gain such a fanbase! My 3 year old calls Youtube Baby Shark because that it what it is known for in his world. Really, I can't get away from it, even if I wanted to...literally! I drew it for my classroom theme and it is so popular that other children come into my room just to see it!. I listen to, sing, and dance to the song religiously! It's like clockwork! I have a Baby Shark problem...

Can it save a life? Yes!

Baby Shark can save a life!? What!? While performing CPR, you need to perform 100 compressions per minute, guess what? Doing it to the beat of Baby Shark can help. But only the first verse, as the song starts to speed up after that. I am not joking, look it up. Me on the other hand...I will still probably be counting whilst compressing, as I wouldn't want to get carried away.

Is it pure genius? Yes! Baby Shark had taken the internet by storm! And Pinkfong's version has been watched over 3.3 billions views! Children love it! And as any other parent that might be struggling with an unruly child as I try to cook dinner, or doing house work chores, I need a distraction! At work. when children are crying, due to being hangry, and we have to wait on lunch, I need a distraction!

Educational?...Yes!

Oh! But wait! Screen time! Too much screen time! No educational value! Well, calm down Karen! No need to get your knickers all in a bunch!

One, no one said you had to put the song on the screen and have your children watch it like a mindless zombie (although, from a parent perspective, sometimes you need to in order to survive! Don't judge!) and two, it can actually have educational value to your ever learning toddler.

How? Well, at the younger age they are still developing language and motor skills, and singing and dancing to an highly popular and beloved song, can definitely aid in such development. Children learn the words to the song usually beginning with the simple "do, do, do" and moving on to the more complex sounds and words. Doing the dance to the song develops both gross and fine motor. The pinching grasp is used during the first verse, and the hand, wrist, and arm movements are used during the consecutive versus of the other shark family. Doing the shark fin on top of the head to the "Lets go hunt" verse can help with hand/eye coordination, and running in place to "Run away" is good for gross motor in the legs. It's great exercise for them (and you...yeah, you! Dance along!) And it gets their wiggles out! Not to mention, singing and dancing is a great way to get their creative expression out through music!

Win! Win! Win!

It's just the song that never ends.....do, do, do, do, do, do.