Super Simple Ways to Connect with Your Child Through Music, (especially if you cringe at your own singing voice)
Using music to connect to your children doesn’t have to be complicated, time consuming or cost a fortune. It can be as easy as playing music to your pregnant belly, banging on pots and pans with your toddler or watching a TikTok with your teenager.
I love connecting with my kids through music by letting them choose the music that we listen to in the car. It is amazing how much more my kids open up to me and offer to help me with chores when I let them, express themselves completely uncensored through their favourite music.
When my kids were little, I loved singing and dancing with my children all the time. Whether it was singing songs or playing music in the background during bath and bedtime my babies loved it. While I was pregnant, I did as much research on how to be a good parent. I knew that a baby’s favourite sound was the voice of a parent singing to them. So, I sang and danced with my babies a lot!
To my horror at about age 2 or 3 my daughter started blocking her ears and told me to stop singing. It really hurt my feelings at the time because what once made her smile was now something that she seemed to hate!
I have since learnt that it is a normal part of children’s development and that even celebrities like Pink and the Wiggles have also been through this experience with their own children. It is at this age that children are often wanting to express independence and explore their own voice. They just want their parents to listen.
One of the most wonderful ways that I have ever seen music used as a form of connection was when I came home from work and discovered my dear old dad singing and dancing with my daughter. I watched with delight as my 3-year-old daughter confidently boss her Poppy around like she was a professional music director and he was a rock star!
I didn’t realise how special it was at the time. Looking back, I now know that having fun and connecting through music with my daughter helped my dad to forget about the pain he felt in his arthritic body and the loneliness he felt on a regular basis.
If he was still alive today, I have no doubt that he would eagerly volunteer to make a TikTok with my children and he wouldn’t care what anyone thought about his singing or dancing skills.
Children really don’t care about how you look or your level of skill as a musician, what is really important to them is how they feel about themselves when you spend time with them.
