Are you raising a musical family? If you find yourself relating to this list, then chances are the answer is Yes!
- Your toddler thinks you’ve been hiding white egg shakers in the refrigerator and can’t understand why he can’t play with them, too.
- Your kids yell at YOU to turn the music down.
- Your child insists on sleeping with his favorite instrument.
- Your child sang her first words.
- Your child insists you sing “Wishy-washy-wishy-washy-wishy-washy-WEEEE” during every bath.
- Pinecone + stick = guiro. Your child can turn anything into an instrument.
- Your child knows what an album is.
- You find yourself saying things like: “Put down the ukulele and brush your teeth.” And “How many times do I have to tell you to pick up your glockenspiel?”
- You’ve recorded at least one video of your family lip-synching a song from Frozen.
- You overhear your child talking with a friend about the musical merits of the original Annie movie. (Okay. That’s really just wishful thinking on your part. Today’s kids seem to prefer the revamped Annie and that’s okay, right? Right?!)
- You re-enact the dance moves from Dancing with the Stars or So You Think You Can Dance. Yes, even the lifts.
You thought about how many kids you wanted based on the size of your dream band.- Your family’s musical tastes range from Taylor Swift to the Beatles to Tchaikovsky to Miles Davis to KidzBop.
- Your child insists on answering your questions through song.
- You have at one point either tried out for American Idol (or your country’s equivalent) or the Voice OR secretly imagined your child auditioning one day.
- As soon as you found out you were pregnant, you created a list of “Albums Our Child Should Listen to Before They Turn 18.”
- You dressed (or dress) your child in any of the following: vintage concert T-Shirts, “I’m With the Band” onesies, “Treble Maker” bibs, or Future (insert instrument of choice) Player pullovers.
- You love making music together as a family, like this one:
Click here to view the video on YouTube.
Do you like to hang out with other musical families? Find a local Kindermusik class and meet other parents who place a high value on raising musical kids!
Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell, a freelance writer in the Atlanta area. She wakes up every morning to the sounds of her husband singing, dresses her kids in vintage concert shirts, and tripped over more than one glockenspiel.