DAD DIARY: Eurovision kids

There are very few non-kids programmes you can watch on TV in our house when the kids are around.
I try to gently indoctrinate them on Gaelic football and soccer, but it is a slow process. Frankie and Éamon were quite taken by the Mayo v Dublin game last week, but they prefer watching games in the flesh. Nothing beats being there and all that.
However, they have become absolutely obsessed with watching the Eurovision! Aisling is to blame for this, in case you consider it in anyway cruel. My wife thinks she is not a Eurovision nut, but she is in denial about that fact.
I have to be honest – I am not a fan in general, but count among my favourite songs two Eurovision winners, Hold Me Now and Rock N’Roll Kids. Don’t judge me.
But the Eurovision ticks so many boxes for the kids.
The three of them love music – Alexa is on the go all day. Frankie and Éamon are really into geography and maths and so watching different countries, seeing the flags, seeing the points being allocated, it all engages them.
And then there is the sheer hilarity they get from of some of the performances. They were gobsmacked watching the Irish entry, Bambie Thug and Doomsday Blue. It is left field, by Irish Eurovision standards, but no less brilliant for that. It is a wonderful work of theatre.
Frankie was so taken by it that when she saw Limerick playing Cork in the hurling, she was cheering for the Rebels, because that’s where Bambie Thug is from.
They could not believe the antics of the half-naked Windows 95 Man, the Finnish entry, with clever use of props thankfully shielding his nether regions. ‘No Rules’ is a song they like – they think it ought to be the way in this house. At times it does feel like more of a reality than a wish!
They were always going to be drawn to someone with a name called Baby Lasagna, and that Croatian entry, ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’, is absolutely brilliant. Check it out if you’re not familiar with it. It is the go to Eurovision song for our brood these days.
The Cypriot song, ‘Liar’, is a favourite for Frankie, while the winning song, ‘The Code’, the Swiss entry is a popular one too.
They must have watched the full show five times now, singing, laughing and learning. Happy days.
There’s a Spotify playlist of all the 2024 songs too, ideal for car journeys. I’m just not sure how much further in time I want them to go back on their Eurovision discovery. If Aisling has her way, I’ll come home someday and they’ll be singing ‘All Kinds Of Everything’.

In his fortnightly column, Edwin McGreal charts the ups and downs of the biggest wake-up call of his life: Parenthood.