Teacher plays sexy song to Year 1 students during Crunch and Sip
"I looked it up and was horrified," the innocent mum of a six-year-old says.
Primary School
Don't miss out on the headlines from Primary School. Followed categories will be added to My News.
School has changed a lot since the old days, thankfully.
For one thing, kids are encouraged to move as much as possible - especially to give them all a well-earned break during lessons.
Schools now have programs like 'crunch and sip' and 'brain break' to let primary school students get up, 'shake it off' and refuel with a fresh snack, mid-lesson.
But one teacher's brain break has become the talk of an online parenting group... all because of her "questionable" song choice.
Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.
RELATED: My kid’s school performed sexual songs at their concert
"She plays the song at breaks and there's a video too"
Writing to the parenting group, the Sydney mum explains:
"My 6-year-old son came to me today telling me about a song the teacher is playing in class, I looked it up and was horrified.
"It was Timber by Kesha. The teacher plays it regularly during their brain breaks, she accompanies it with a dance video."
Whilst we're sad for the mum that she's been missing out on enjoying the excellent, uplifting tune all of these years, we do see her point, because the song is... sexy.
She continues, "Some of the lyrics are 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall, These big-iddy boys, are dig-gidy dogs, I have 'em like Miley Cyrus, clothes off, twerkin' in their bras and thongs, Face down, booty up, That's the way we like to...
"It's basically talking about seducing a girl for ... Do I have a right to be concerned and if yes what should I do?"
"I'm confused how this can be shown to kids"
While the mum was gently told by some that she was overreacting as the kids are too young to grasp the sexual nature of the lyrics, she wasn't satisfied.
One wrote, "It's definitely innocent. The kids probably like the tune and in all honesty are not really listening to or understanding the lyrics," the mum responded, "Yes, they might not understand the lyrics, but kids won't understand a lot of inappropriate things, but it will of course still affect them negatively in the long run."
However she added, "Hence why we don't expose them to things beyond their age. I am confused how these things can be shown to kids and then we complain when they are acting up at a young age and not respecting each other's boundaries."
Other mums suggested that there was a kid-friendly version of the song (on Kidz Bops), with Kesha dancing with a panda - and the mum confirmed that was indeed the case, but it was still inappropriate.
The poster wasn't the only one who felt this way, with one commenter writing, "The lyrics are trashy for any stage of life and completely inappropriate for young children. Lots of other parents here saying it's acceptable. I guess it comes down to your own values and what example you want to set for your children."
But many others didn't see the issue.
"God I used to dance around singing Vega boys boom boom boom boom when I was about that age. No idea what the lyrics meant but I remember dancing around singing and having lots of fun!"
Another added, "In primary schools they use Just Dance on YouTube for brain breaks. They play that song on commercial radio stations, so your kids have probably heard is many times before they did at school."
But our favourite response was this one: "Google the lyrics of the Macarena..."
More Coverage
Originally published as Teacher plays sexy song to Year 1 students during Crunch and Sip