Do you sing a lot to your children?

wifeofadam · April 2014

Earlier this week in one of my son's music lessons, the teacher was quizzing him on something where she would play a few notes simultaneously and he would have to guess which song the notes came from. Both he and I were having a hard time with it. But the teacher was also surprised that DS didn't know some of the songs she was trying to get him to guess - My Bonnie, This Old Man, Do-Re-Mi, etc.

I'm feeling like a negligent mother now, like I should be singing to my kids more or playing them more kid songs. We listen to a lot of music in the house, just not traditional kid music.

Do you play a lot of kid music for your kids? Sing to them?

kelly321 · April 2014

I don't play a whole lot because if I sit at the piano they both start screaming (I'm not that bad...). But they love it when I sing to them, and I do it pretty frequently. We have a couple of song books, and especially DD1 loves to flip through them and tell me which songs I should sing.

wifeofadam · April 2014

ByeByeBooze said:

And what is My Bonnie?

My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
So bring back my Bonnie to me...

wifeofadam · April 2014

ByeByeBooze said:

We sing all. the. time. It's not always (or even usually) kids songs though. DD likes to dance, so she asks for songs all the time.

See. This is us. We sing and dance ALL.THE.TIME. but it is never kid music. We like contemporary Christian music, so that's usually what we jam to. DD1 has this one Toddler Tunes DVD that she likes to put in and sing along to, but that's about the only kid music they ever hear. I cannot handle the kid CDs in the car and stuff. Grates my nerves. I remember my poor mom listening to Raffi CDs on loop with my little sister in the car. No way. Not this mom!

colinsfebmommy · April 2014

I sing all the time......terribly, but he likes it lol I think he'd rather listen to the radio though, because we get in the car and he says "Happy Happy" . ..... he wants the Despicable Me 2 Happy song to play LMAO

jesuisfatiguee · April 2014

We listen to a lot of music, and we sing a bit, but I am another hater of "kids" music. I hate it so much.

We listen to classical during our morning and evening commute, and usually something on Pandora at home. I sing a lot of stupid made up songs and parodies to DS, too. "O Christmas Tree" has been "O [DS' name]" since he was a few months old. I also sing this dumb little jingle that goes, "Tootie cutie, tootie cutie, tootin' cutie, tootin' cutie." DS loves that one, and giggles and dances when I start it.

tamarar5 · April 2014

My kids would recognize just about every popular country song on the radio and tell you which ones I like and don't, but they wouldn't recognize my Bonnie or This Old Man! Lol They would know Do Re Me because I've got a big spot for showtunes.

ericalee27 · April 2014

We also sing a lot but not really kids songs. My kids hear lot of the Dead and the Beatles!

kelly321 · April 2014

I sang My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean all the time to DD. I changed "Bonne" to her name.

SidraJedi · April 2014

I couldn't listen to children's CDs all day either. (except I actually really like Burl Ives and may buy a Burl Ives CD one day, his Celtic folk music or something though) We only hear kids music CDs at the library. I sing her the children's songs that I remember and she likes it. I sing her some of the kids songs from the library. I also sing her Louie Armstrong, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mercer, Doris Day, The Beatles, The Monkees, some traditional Gaelic folk songs, a mixed bag...

Sometimes I play guitar for her. DH plays all the time in the evenings. She loves to bang on the guitar while we play or dance.

When we listen to music it is classical or ethnic or something modern. Right now I have surf music in the CD player in the van (Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, all instrumental) One of DD's favorite records to listen to is a classic Spanish Flamenco album. She screams and dances while listening to it.

ETA: a word

cinnasugar · April 2014

We sing DD a song or two before bed. She insists (although it is really her way of drawing out the routine/stalling). She picks the song usually but I have to say that it is April and I'm getting tired of singing her Christmas Carols before bed

StephPeth · April 2014

We sing all the time, sometimes children's music, sometimes not.

She likes the grateful dead, pure funk and disney pandora stations. She will literally dance to anything and she just beams when she recognizes a song that comes on. I LOVE sharing my love of music with her. I played music to my tummy when I was pregnant with her and I think it paid off

singingsea · April 2014

We sing a lot but not traditional nursery rhymes although he does know patty cake. We listen to the radio a lot so we sing and dance to a lot of modern music. That and yo gabba gabba

Justinlove · April 2014

Yes. There is a lot of evidence and research about how the impact of the rhyme, rhythm and cadence of traditional nursery rhymes and songs has a profoundly positive impact on development in the areas of reading and math. (As a teacher, this was part of my masters coursework).

Drea926 · April 2014

We sing all the time as well - kids songs, non-kid songs and we sing while narrating what we're doing. This kid is going to think life is a musical where people sing doing daily activities.

DublinMama · April 2014

We sing a lot. Not really any kids songs, though. It's 2014. Who the fuck is singing "My Bonnie" anymore?

TarheelMama202 · April 2014

DublinMama said:
We sing a lot. Not really any kids songs, though. It's 2014. Who the fuck is singing "My Bonnie" anymore?

This. I was actually going to start a thread earlier entitled "Hilarious things your DH does" because the singing while narrating what we are doing is his specialty. He makes up the most amazing songs totally off the cuff about anything to the tune of well-known songs. Yesterday, while eating breakfast it was "I Will Always Love Food" to the tune of "I Will Always Love You." Incredible.

Drea926 · April 2014

TarheelMama202 said:

DublinMama said:
We sing a lot. Not really any kids songs, though. It's 2014. Who the fuck is singing "My Bonnie" anymore?

This. I was actually going to start a thread earlier entitled "Hilarious things your DH does" because the singing while narrating what we are doing is his specialty. He makes up the most amazing songs totally off the cuff about anything to the tune of well-known songs. Yesterday, while eating breakfast it was "I Will Always Love Food" to the tune of "I Will Always Love You." Incredible.

Hahaha! This is my DH too!

ohlordy · April 2014

I make up a lot of songs for DD and sing my heart out. I remember a lot of rhythms of songs, but I often forget the lyrics, so I make up my own. I actually caught Ophelia dancing to the rhythm of the dishwasher the other day.

DublinMama · April 2014

Right now the number one jam in the house is "Do you want to build a snowmaaaaaaaan?? It doesn't have to be a snowmaaaaan!"

Rosebean · April 2014

I suspect this is a horrible way to test a kids musical knowledge. The tester has "curse of knowledge" in that she knows the songs and think they should be easy to recognize. If I were you, I would test her back with random songs and see how well she does. My guess is she will have the same fail/pass rate.

TarheelMama202 · April 2014

I hate kid's music. We listen to a lot of classical. And tonight, after @ericalee mentioned it, I sang DS a lot of Grateful Dead. "Brokedown Palace", "Scarlet Begonias", "Rambling Rose", etc. So glad you mentioned that @ericalee! Brought back my jam band days.

Gftf7 · April 2014

I sing a lot to LO too, but mostly made up stuff that narrates our day. A favorite of mine is "Help The Mama", sung to the tune of "Help Me Rhonda" by The Beach Boys.

babywisher · April 2014

We sing a good bit. Every diaper change for sure. We listen to music a LOT because ds loves to sing and dance. Now dd does too. I do lots of nursery rhymes and such. We make up most also.

stacrb98 · April 2014

We sing and listen to music daily. Like many others most of our singing is made up stuff about our day. We stream Pandora a lot (the toddler tunes) however I had never heard of My Bonnie and many of the other song you mentioned are not anything that we would typically listen to. I think these song may be her personal preferences.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

ericalee27 · April 2014

TarheelMama202 said:

I hate kid's music. We listen to a lot of classical. And tonight, after @ericalee mentioned it, I sang DS a lot of Grateful Dead. "Brokedown Palace", "Scarlet Begonias", "Rambling Rose", etc. So glad you mentioned that @ericalee! Brought back my jam band days.

Ripple is DS1's favorite

kelly321 · April 2014

DublinMama said:

We sing a lot. Not really any kids songs, though. It's 2014. Who the fuck is singing "My Bonnie" anymore?

::blushes in embarrassment::

me...

kelly321 · April 2014

but maybe I should also add that living abroad, I feel an obligation to somehow cover all sorts of American culture that my kids won't get elsewhere. All modern US songs come on the radio over here, but kids' songs are different. For some reason it would break my heart if my kids could sing "All of my little ducks" (classic German kids' song) but not "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "Itsy Bitsy Spider." I would feel like I failed in passing along part of my culture to them. I know I'm setting myself up for failure on this point...

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