Written by Chris Jones

About six weeks ago, Hayden, my 20-month-old, was bopping around my work area shuffling the papers on my table. I was trying to write a story, but like all toddlers, you have to keep one eye on them and the other on whatever it is you're doing. He started to cry a little—probably saw my stack of bills, which causes a similar reaction in me—so I decided to put on some music for him.

You don't know Hayden, so I'm going to tell you about him briefly. He suffered—and we suffered—terrible colic when he was an infant. He would go on for hours crying at the top of his little lungs. He finally petered out each night around midnight. We quickly discovered by some freak accident in the car that "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé would silence him completely. So for the past year-and-a-half, Beyoncé has been co-parenting with Elizabeth and me.

Back to my office. I scanned YouTube hoping to find anything he might like outside of Beyoncé. I'm not a fan, but I credit her for quiet car rides and restful nights. Then I stumbled on "Happy" by Pharrell from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack. I am a fan of Pharrell so I thought it could be a win-win. We could replace Beyoncé with an artist that I like and that Hayden would enjoy.

It worked.

Since then, Hayden is on minions all day, every day. We have minion toys, minion magnets, both films on Blu-ray, a minion hat, minion fruit snacks, and minion games.

Au revoir, Beyoncé. Now I'm happy.