Do You Sing to Your Children?
I am a horrible singer. I have the ability to sing, but not always on key. Thankfully my kids don’t care. My 2 year old daughter doesn’t sing in tune either and we sound like a mess singing together. I enjoy singing to my children and with my children, but sometimes I get embarrassed singing around other adults, including my husband.
When my first was a tiny baby I made up a song to help soothe her. I have never sang it in front of my husband. We call it “the secret song.” I now sing “the secret song” to my second baby. Maybe it is silly and I should get over it, but I kind of like the bond it creates between me and my babies. Now this song is sort of a joke between my husband and myself. He jokes that “the secret song” doesn’t even exist. Its also fun to keep the joke going.
I often make up songs to make tasks easier. While my daughter waits for her peanut butter and jelly to be made we sing the words “peanut butter and jelly” in a funny way.
We sing all the nursery standards together a million times a day, Twinkle Little Star, ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc. Now I get the joy of hearing her sing them on her own. My husband has a knack for picking up words in a song very easily. I sometimes wonder if my daughter will have this gift. She loves singing the songs in “The Aristocats.”
I do want to sing with my kids even if I am sometimes insecure about my voice. I have friends (Sarah, Dawn, and Natalie, to name a few) with amazing voices and I love hearing them sing. I know not to compare myself or I would never sing! I am thankful my kids don’t care if I can carry a tune right now. My daughter might be later if I am embarrassing her! LOL.
Do you sing to your children? Do you ever get insecure about your voice?
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We are constantly making up songs and singing them to our kids. I know I would be humiliated if anyone outside my family were to ever hear any of the ridiculous songs I sing, but the kids love it and have even begun to make up their own silly songs and my 3 year old seems to have a knack for rhyming and rhythm… maybe he’ll be a songwriter someday!
lol My kids especially love when I make up songs about or for them. It’s just a fun thing to do with your family. My mom always sang to us when we were kids and it’s a comforting and fun thing. 
I love making up songs. I do it all the time, but my husband does it even more so!!! He has a good morning song, a going to bed song, a bath time song. It cracks me up, but (like Amanda) I also think that it’s something that bonds us. My mom and dad were always playing music and singing to us from the time I can remember. I still do this day can sing back those made-up songs I was taught at 3 & 4. I think that it’s another reminder of why music is so powerful. It’s good for the soul!
I have a horrible voice, but my daughter does not think so! I have sang to her since day 1. Our “song” is You are My Sunshine. I have changed words to fit her name, etc. I started singing that to her when she was a little baby, it worked perfect to sooth her when she had surgery, and every other day. Now, at 4, I still sing it to hear each night! I am the singer and daddy is the story teller!
I have a horrible singing voice, but I sing to my kiddos too. My first daughter loved it and we had a whole singing routine we did before bed every night. My second daughter didn’t love my voice so much. When she was about a year old, I was singing to her one night and she looked up at me and put her hand over my mouth. I thought she was just wanting to touch me, but every time I started singing again, up went her hand. Thankfully, my boys love for me to sing to them. We also make up silly songs for everything we do. Sometimes I catch myself singing them in public and I get funny looks from strangers.
When I was a nanny for an autistic boy(8), I learned the songs that he sang with his occupational therapist and would sing them when he was freaking out OR I would make up new words to the same tune so he would stop and listen and start to sing with me. It was a great way to connect with him because he did not always understand the words I would say to him. It was cool.
We sing all the time- anywhere, any time, about anything. It makes for great moods, even giggles sometimes if we make up something funny.
My kids have yet to complain about my voice. But my big one has put his finger on his daddy’s lips and told him to shhh.