Popular music has a long and often contentious history with parents of young children in the United States. From Jazz in the 1930s to Rock ‘n Roll in the 1960s and Rock music in the 1980s, parents have often looked warily on new trends in music. But, with the ubiquity of popular music in contemporary life, how do parents of young children today view the popular music listening habits of their children? Is popular music informing the parent–child dynamic? This qualitative research study investigates the ways in which parents and their children are sharing popular music. Findings suggest that popular music is, today, an integral part of the parent–child relationship. Rather than view popular music as a possible form of negative socialization, parents and children are using shared engagements with popular music to navigate not only music-oriented experiences but life-based experiences. That is to say, popular music sharing serves as a way for parents and children, together, to read their world and explore their place in it. The question then becomes: what might we learn from those musical relationships that might enrich our community music programmes and our roles as community music facilitators?
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