OK, I guess I should weigh in on this, not based on any expertise or authority but only on what I experienced as a kid.
My most vivid memories of listening to music growing up were my parents’ repeated listenings to the Beatles’ “Abbey Road,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and various Glen Campbell (yes! Pre-“Rhinestone Cowboy,” obviously) and Johnny Cash records. Oh, and Bob Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline.”
I think the value for kids and the influence is not so much the genre, but the connection it makes between kids and their parents. My experience was accentuated by the times my dad and my uncle would get us together some evenings, and sing and play some of the fun songs from those albums on their guitars (and they were by no means accomplished musicians). I remember countless renditions of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, plus kids’ songs like “Bill Grogan’s Goat” and “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,” singing and laughing — a lot.
Music obviously is to be enjoyed for the sheer quality of the musicianship, but many times certain songs will drum up memories associated with times, places, and relationships. I think impressing positive and loving memories with music in the minds of your kids is what may be most important.