The best start in life?

I like to think that Melissa and I are doing our best to give Harry a decent start in life. For example, now he’s eating solids, we try and make sure the food he eats is homemade and, whenever possible, that it’s out of our garden.

But there’s no doubt that sacrifices have to be made when you have a little one. Your social life, for instance, suffers, as does sleep of course.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not after sympathy. Both Melissa and I wanted a baby and we are quite happy to changes our lives to suit Harry’s needs.

One area that still causes me problems, though, is music. Now Melissa is quite happy to listen to (and sing) nursery rhymes with Harry all day – in the house and in the car. I’ll do it but, after a while, I need a break and go back to my own music, even though Melissa tells me off for being cruel to our son.

I’m a bit worried about the impact this is going to have on Harry in later life. The other day, for instance, I was in the car with Harry and had my ipod plugged in. It was a fairly random selection of music, ranging from contemporary (Elbow, Ryan Adams and so on), to 80s rock and pop (Def Leppard, Aha), and the downright bizarre (Buggles and The Wurzels).

I’m just not sure this is setting the right tone for Harry. I read somewhere that classical music is the best thing to play to young children but, frankly, my taste in music is just too cheesy. The good thing is, Harry doesn’t seem to mind – yet. At one point, I’m sure he tried gurgling along to ‘Video killed the radio star’.

If it’s any consolation, Harry got revenge of sorts when I went for a run last weekend. I plugged in the ipod and chose a random selection of music from my computer. You can imagine my surprise and disappointment when, half way through the run, Humpty Dumpty started playing.

Anyway, I’ve resolved to do something about it and chose my music more carefully in future. It’s all very well feeding Harry the right food, but if he grows up singing ‘I’ve got a brand new combine harvester’, I’ll know my attempt at good parenting has failed.