As a single mother of two boys, Sheryl Crow has to play good and bad cop. When it comes to screen time, the singer reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly, “I’m constantly policing them.”
Now, the mom of Wyatt, 10, and Levi, 7, has an ally in her fight. She uses streaming music service Roxi by Electric Jukebox to turn her TV into a karaoke machine that tempts them away from the iPad. Crow says it lets them “experience what it was like when I was growing up. People got records and took them to a friend’s house.”
The Nashville-based Grammy winner, 55, takes Us for a spin.
Us: What’s your rule on screen time?
SC: If you read 30 minutes, you can have 30 minutes on your iPad. I do feel you can easily get lazy as a parent by enjoying that time to yourself while they’re spending two hours in front of video games. I crack the whip.
Us: Do they ever protest?
SC: There is a lot of bribery in my house. I’m a strong proponent. With food I’ll be like, “If you eat this, you can have that.” And now it’s over whether they get to watch Phineas and Ferb.
Us: Are they budding singers?
SC: They’re really into music. They both are taking piano lessons. Now they’re getting to that stage where they’re learning all the music and they’re just too cool for school.
Us: Do they sing Mom’s songs?
SC: They write their own lyrics to my music. It’s always potty stuff. Like, “All I wanna do is poop on you.”
Us: What are some of their favorite songs to listen to on the radio?
SC: They want to listen to pop radio on the way to school, on the way home from school, on the way to camp, on the way to swimming pool. Even though they don’t know what most of those songs means — cause most of them are pretty sexy — they know all the words. No matter how much I try, if I censor them, they’re still going to hear them at their friend’s houses.
Us: What karaoke song are you excited to sing with them using ROXI?
SC: “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge.
Us: What’s the most rewarding thing about being a mom?
SC: Well one of the greatest things — and I’m fresh off the road with my kids — is sharing new things with them. My seven year old finally got off of his training wheels. He never wanted to. We went on the road and my bass player took him out and got him off his training wheels. So to be able to share what it feels like to be on a bicycle and having that freedom was amazing. It was a great summer because of that.
