What do you think Kids means?

MGMT: Kids Meaning

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Album cover for Kids album cover

Kids Lyrics

You were a child
Crawling on your knees toward it
Making momma so proud
But your voice is too loud
We like to watch you laughing
You pick the insects off plants
No time to think of consequences

Control yourself
Take only what you...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Mar 14th 2012 !⃝

    I feel like the lyrics are about how when you are a little kid, you are instantly just start moving as fast as you can towards growing up (Crawling on your knees toward it, with "it" being growing up). It is also filled with nostalgic memories of being a little kid to provoke the memories of the listeners childhood, putting them in that sort of state of mind.

    The chorus talks about controlling yourself both as a child and an adult, and only taking what you need from both experiences to come and the memories of your childhood. Although badly explained, I will try to elaborate on that.

    As a child, he is saying that you should control yourself and not try to grow up to fast, only taking what you need from experiences that are part of the process of growing up, which is an idea that many can relate to while looking back on life and wishing that they had enjoyed childhood more and long for the lack of responsibility and carefree lifestyle that once was. He may be advising a child not to long to be old, for it will come at its time, and to enjoy life as it is in the present. Obviously the author is not directly advising a child, he is more giving advice that he would give to a child, for the older listener to take into account and compare to his or her own childhood and the way in which it was lived.

    On the other side, he is saying that as an adult you should control yourself and not center your thoughts too much around those childhood memories. Although they are nice to think about and often provoke sentimental and nostalgic thoughts, it is for the most part useless to dwell on these things. He is advising the listener to take only what they need from these memories of childhood experiences, and not to be like haunted by these memories throughout life, longing for what once was.

    The second verse discusses how looking back on childhood is a pleasant and familiar experience, although it still gives people unpleasant or sad feelings for deeper reasons. It provokes thought about the negative aspects of childhood, such as the seemingly infinite need for attention. The author points out that as you get older, these memories fade, with the hauntingly appropriate simile "like looking through a fogged mirror", and how decisions that we made as a child were much more valuable and sensible because the motives for these decisions were not rooted by money and greed, as they often are today as we are grown up. This is a realization that hurts some people, although we don't often realize it when we are younger.

    I just listened to this song and felt the need to express my opinion on what the lyrics mean to me, and I hope I didn't bore anyone with the ridiculous structure I used to write this, it all just kind of came from the top of my head. Thanks for reading.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Jul 18th 2011 !⃝

    The music video to this song is personally hard to watch for me but
    Kids' by MGMT is on the surface simply a nostalgic reflection on the good times of childhood, as you dig deeper though you realize that isn't the case.

    The two verses set the scene for juxtaposition between the happiness that comes with the freedom of youth and the weight of responsibility that bears down on the shoulders of an adult.

    Beginning with the optimistic, `Crawling on your knees toward it, making momma so proud' is later mirrored with the `A baby is born, crying out for attention.' Now from this new perspective even the outside perspective of childhood is marred with potential pit falls.

    Overall the theme of the song is repeated in the chorus, `Control yourself, and Take only what you need from it'.

    An advisement from the writer to the listener to enjoy what they can from the recollections of their childhood while they can, while it is not like looking through a `fogged mirror'. In the nature of the songs conflicts though this is metered out by highlighting that looking into our families past is not our place, `Family Tress waiting to be haunted'.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    pavlovscat
    click a star to vote
    Jun 1st 2009 !⃝

    The song is basically advice for potentially over-bearing parents. The line, "control yourself, take only what you need from him," is about granting independence to children. The following line has something to do with isolation from one's family. Is the "family of trees" a reference to an actual family? If so, maybe the following line, "wanting to be haunted," is a sarcastic way of saying that if you try to control your kids too much, they eventually abandon you, leaving a sense of haunted isolation. Or maybe the trees refer to tree houses, later abandoned by the children who once played in the them.


    A family of trees wanting to be haunted

  4. anonymous
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    Jun 30th 2023 !⃝

    This song is about life in general. Take life as it comes to you and not be greedy. These guys tripped on shrooms heavy. The video with the kids and symbolizing trafficking is just the LA producer and director telling us they're all pedos. Ignorance is bliss...the truth is in our faces.

  5. anonymous
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    Mar 1st 2023 !⃝

    The quote in the video describes fighting against the monsters (bad people) lest you yourself become one

  6. anonymous
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    Mar 14th 2021 !⃝

    The song is very wonderful. I give it five stars. It is broad-minded. It has many meanings. What I see is that the child is when he is alone or feels lonely. Even if there is a father or mother near him, but they do not care what their child feels, the child will suffer from a sense of loneliness and fear of all people will see them as monsters And he does not feel comfortable and safe except with his mother, and this feeling also comes as a result of the absence of the father's role and also when the father often causes problems with his children and his wife. A stranger near him quickly feels calm and stops running to escape from people, monsters, and also we see in the animation inside the song that he went quickly to a man who imagined that he was his father and would save him from feeling fear, so this father turns into a monster and devours him. This is an image that represents that there are people whom you can imagine his peak in safety But they are the height of greed and monsters, and the song producer also portrays for us how the girl grows up and becomes a woman with a beautiful body, how the child pays attention and notices this change within himself, sexual change, and also how the old lady watches She sits on a rocking chair and weaves a woolen sweater and also how a person spends most of the time eating food. His salvation focuses on the negative problems of the individual that continue to chase him from childhood and will not leave him because their damages are severe in the sensitive child’s soul. In the mirrors he sees his haze looming over his face, the fact that it is a painful reality. I feel a thing just like in the song.

  7. anonymous
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    Sep 4th 2020 !⃝

    This song is about child trafficking. You can really see it in the video. The monsters are the pedos. The quote at the beginning not to become to monster. The child at the end running and turning into hotdogs(pedo symbol for small boy). It depicts a dark but very true reality in the music industry.

  8. anonymous
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    Jan 6th 2020 !⃝

    Also watch the video to see the meaning behind it as well.

  9. anonymous
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    Jun 22nd 2017 !⃝

    Go look it up. These interpretations are not the artist's.

  10. anonymous
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    May 30th 2017 !⃝

    TAKING BUGS OFF THE TREE... WHEN MAYBE THE BUGS ARE THERE FOR A REASON AND THE TREES NEED TO BE HAUNTED TO SURVIVE MORE OF LESS. I think its simply a metaphor for the parents and "KIDS".

  11. anonymous
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    Jun 20th 2014 !⃝

    That he is growing up, trying to defeat his monsters

  12. anonymous
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    Dec 19th 2013 !⃝

    I'm guessing it means that at 1st they were making there moms proud until they started doing what they wanted to do then there moms probably started ignoring them so they started doing drugs to remember the good childhood. They thought numbing their pain with drugs probably with needles wouldn't hurt a lot but then it did. I think that a family of trees wanting to be haunted means that they want to stop being ignored and be payed attention to.

  13. Marcy
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    Nov 22nd 2013 !⃝

    I believe this song is about a father remembering the time before he left his child. The child is crawling toward growing up, making the mother so proud, but the father left "but your voice was too loud". They loved to watch their child laugh, but did not take the time to explain to the child what he did was wrong "picking insects off plants, no time to think of consequences." The child was ignored a lot. The first two lines of the repeated third verse "Control yourself. Take what you need from it" probably is the father wanting the child to not be angry about the bad memories, but to take the good memories the child needs for their life. The last two lines of the third verse "A family of trees wanting to be haunted" probably is talking about the family tree. The fifth verse is about the father remembering how they ignored the child. "The water is warm, but its sending me shivers" is the father getting cold chills from his memories of how they ignored the child "A baby is born crying out for attention" and the fact that he left the child. His memories, although not clear "Memories fade, like looking through a fogged mirror" are still there. The decision to leave the child that so much needed his attention "Decision to decisions are made and not bought", he realized hurt the child more than he realized it would at the time.(sad but beautiful song)

  14. anonymous
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    Oct 9th 2013 !⃝

    If you read the quote in the music video it explains everythinf, and no its not about the environment

  15. anonymous
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    Aug 29th 2013 !⃝

    I think 'a family of trees haunted' is actually a reference to his memories. How we take memories with us through our life's and how the things in our past can have baring on the way we feel in our current lives. 'Control yourself, take only what u need from it' is him saying take the good with you, leave the bad behind. And I suppose is a way of saying, its our choice, how we let them memories and past experiences affect us. 'But I thought,
    this wouldn't hurt a lot.
    I guess not.' Is the fact our memories and past experience do affect us long after the experience itself.

    *beautiful song and lyrics' *

  16. anonymous
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    Mar 25th 2011 !⃝

    The song Kids is actually about a child growing up without his father and his father not being here.
    "You were a child,
    crawlin' on your knees toward it.
    Makin' mama so proud,
    but your voice was too loud. "
    Basically talking about the father leaving his son.


    "We like to watch you laughing.
    You pick the insects off plants.
    No time to think of consequences."
    Saying that the child was too young to know what was going on with his parents, but will face the consequences when he is older.

    "Control yourself.
    Take only what you need from it.
    A family of trees wantin',
    To be haunted."
    Telling him to not be too upset about it, it was meant to be this way, and he is better off without the father.

    "The water is warm,
    but it's sending me shivers."
    He doesnt know his dad at all.
    "A baby is born,
    crying out for attention."
    His dad wasnt ready to be a father. Also goes along with "But your voice is too loud"

    "Memories fade,
    like looking through a fogged mirror"
    He was too young to remember any part of his chidhood with his father.

    "Decision to decisions are made and not bought
    But I thought,
    this wouldn't hurt a lot.
    I guess not. "
    Speaks for its self. No one knew it would have such an affect on his son.

  17. lhommedangereux
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    Oct 16th 2009 !⃝

    The song as a whole is fantastic... however the words would only make sense to 2 parties... the author, and the people tripin on drugs which is obviously the bands target audience. That being said I'm digging the techno retro psychadelic thing they got going. Maybe just maybe this song is not meant to be interpreted by straight edge people, like me. I think its totally meant for acid, shrooms and xtc. If u don't believe me just watch the music video on youtube.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  18. anonymous
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    Jul 4th 2009 !⃝

    The song Kids is about nature.

    "Pickin' insects off plants." Taking away from nature.
    "No time to think of consequences." Consequences of polution and over using resources

    "Control yourself." Dont take too much from earth
    "Take only what you need from it." No explanation needed
    "A family of trees wanting,To be haunted." They need the bugs that were taken away from them

    "The water is warm,but its sending me shivers." Global warming

    "But I thought,
    this wouldn't hurt a lot.
    I guess not." He didnt think the consequences of it would hurt, but it did


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