Music to a Mother’s Ears

Sometimes staying at home can put you in a rut with parenting. Especially if you work from home, it is tempting to work almost constantly and let the TV be the babysitter. I find that putting on a good cd can do wonders for your energy and intentions.

When its playtime in the morning, we put on the Backyardigan’s or Diego and Dora CD, both of which my son just loves. I appreciate them because they aren’t some queer 40 year old folky singer singing “kum-bay-ya” or “Jesus Loves Me”, but rather pretty entertaining for adults too. They get us moving and provide the background noise I crave, but also don’t take our attention the way television does, so I remember to get toys out and actively play with and teach him. For lunch I like to put on the classical radio station. It’s slightly calm and he seems to pay attention to eating better. Then I put Sweet Dreams on in his room, a lullaby CD, which let’s him know it is time to go nigh nigh for his nap.

Play around with different music until you find some that motivate different parts of your day. They can help to stick to a schedule and break up the day into main parts rather than feeling like an endless, boring abyss. Sometimes, for those “party” songs, Lil’ E and I will take out his basket of musical instruments and participate in the music, shaking maracas or drumming to the beat.

Music can be your own little “Mother’s Helper”!