Hipster Parents, Rockin' Tots

May 3, 2007 — -- It is a rite of passage, a part of growing up anyone can relate to: Saturday morning "cartoon time." For a new generation, though, Bugs Bunny isn't cutting it anymore.

On a recent Saturday morning in Los Angeles, hipster parents and their ultracool toddlers packed their iPods and diaper bags and got ready to rock.

In just a few hours, the same place would be filled with beer-swilling 20-somethings ready to watch a death-obsessed band called the Nekromantics. For now, though, it was filled with juice-spilling kids, doing arts and crafts across from the bar as they watched a band called The Sippy Cups.

The group is part of an explosion in toddler rock 'n' roll, driven by what some see as a new breed of moms and dads.

The inspiration is pretty easy for a parent to understand. "We have all been trapped in our cars with kids and yes, we are going to drive off the road if there is one more 'Wheels Around the Bus,'" said band member Doug Nolan. "So, you know, to have some music that we like and the kids like, and the kids do. My daughter is back there and she knows the words better than I do."

"When we write our songs, we really write stuff that appeals to us," said Paul Godwin who plays the keyboard and does the vocals for the band. "The ideas are generated from our kids. It's things that are happening to our kids that we know excite them &30133 the discovery of nature or bicycles."

These little rock 'n' rollers are more common than you may imagine, raised by a new generation of parents who deck their kids out in the latest retro tennis shoes, vintage concert T-shirts and slacker hairdos.

If they're called "hipster parents," author Neal Pollack might be considered one of them. He may not be the voice of a new generation, but his book "Alternadad" has struck a chord. It's about Pollack, his wife and their 4-year-old son, Elijah, sometimes referred to as "the roommate."

From "Alternadad":

This is the cultural nexus on which I want to place my son. He would start out Indie, even punk, and then you'd have a breakout hit and get rich while still not becoming lame or he could end up like Gibby from the Butthole Surfers, which wasn't as glamorous a faith, but it was still an interesting one. Regardless, I silently pledged to myself that my son would not have a generic American childhood. My kid is going to be cool."

Not everyone is a fan of Pollack's book. New York Times columnist David Brooks calls him a "whiny narcissist."