When I had my first baby, nearly 15 years ago, my Auntie had also had a baby girl a few months earlier. They visited us when my daughter was a few weeks old, and we lay them both down together for a play.
My Aunt started singing nursery rhymes to them both, catching their attention, making them laugh and smile. I sat back in horror thinking, “I’ll never be able to sing like that to my baby, in front of other people. What a crap Mum I am.”
As time went on I did sing to her lots, mostly when it was just the two of us, but I did gradually lose my inhibitions.
With baby two, I remember singing to her whilst she was propped up on my legs on my bed, at only a few days old. We went to Musical Mini’s and a raft of other groups were you were odd if you didn’t sing.
Third time round, I talk and sing to him ALL the time; supermarkets, walks in the park, in the car. So much so that if he is ever crying the first thing I do is sing. Yes, it maybe the shock of it that quietens him at first, but I must be doing something right because his reactions to the first few words of some nursery rhymes have him doing the correct actions or bouncing up and down like a crazy, bouncing up and down thing!
We regularly go to Musical Mini’s, playgroup & Tiny Talk, so get lots of practice in. Favourites include If you’re happy & you know it, ring-a-ring-a-roses, & Peter Rabbit’s got a fly upon his nose. Which I had a very embarrassing incident with. Walking along on our daily “duck run“, singing away to him, I didn’t notice a dog walker catching us up. He was subjected to my rendition and made me jump out of my skin, when he asked “Is that the only one you know?”
What do you sing to your little ones, and have you become more carefree as they have got older or you’ve had subsequent children?
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