Baby Shark

If you are the parent or grandparent of a young child or children, you know the song “Baby Shark.”

You probably know it even if you aren’t a parent or grandparent. It’s ubiquitous. It’s also everywhere.

It’s even in the world of baseball. Specifically, it’s in the Washington Nationals’ part of the world of baseball.

That’s a part of the baseball world that I usually pay little attention to unless they’re playing the Braves. But now they’re in the World Series and the Braves aren’t, even though the Braves finished ahead of them in the National League’s Eastern Division.

(By the way, I don’t like the wild card. I don’t think baseball teams that don’t win their division should make the playoffs. But I digress.)

But it is what it is. And the Nationals may have won the World Series by the time you read this.

Now back to our story.

Washington’s “Baby Shark” craze started back in June when Nationals outfielder Gerardo Parra started using the song as his walk-up music.

(By the way, I’m old enough to remember when baseball players didn’t have walk-up music. The announcer announced their names and they walked up to the plate. I miss those days. I also despise the designated hitter. But I digress.)

Parra chose the song because his kids like it. That’s a very good reason.

Our grandson Sullivan likes it too. His version is better than anyone else’s version. Our granddaughter Isabella is too young to sing, but if she could, her version would be better than anyone else’s too.

Now “Baby Shark” is a thing in Washington. People at Nationals games do the motions (does “YMCA” have competition? ). Grown people wear shark costumes to the games. Players “chomp” with their arms.

(Such chomping is too Florida Gators-like for my taste. But I digress).

How big a thing is it in Washington? Watch the Washington National Cathedral Organists Play "Baby Shark” and you’ll see how big a thing it is. It’s a very big thing.

You might also watch some Lebanon Protestors sing "Baby Shark.”

Thousands of protestors have been in the streets of Lebanon’s capital city Beirut. They’re protesting about economic conditions and government corruption.

The other day, a mother and her fifteen month-old son were in their car when it became surrounded by protestors. The mother told the protestors that her son was frightened. About a dozen of them sang “Baby Shark” to him to calm his fears.

“Baby Shark” is an earworm song. It gets in your head, and you can’t get it out. It’s irritating.

I don’t really care that it makes Washington Nationals fans happy.

But if it brings joy to children, I’m all for it.

Here’s a thought: what if we judged all of our policies and practices by the answer to this question: is it good for children—for our children, for America’s children, and for the world’s children?

Yes, that just might be a good thing to do, do, do, do, do, do.