growing up, my mother's singing was a constant back drop to our lives, so it was quite natural that i, too, sing throughout our days. it keeps me at peace & centered...it helps me be patient when the children are running amok. it calms & sometimes even distracts them when they are tired/hungry...
the boys have now inherited this gift of song, it is contagious! i have even caught their papa making up little songs & jingles...i love it! i love listening to their sweet voices...it brightens my day, definitely.
the other night, we chose to read our bedtime story outside on the front porch & enjoy a gently thunderstorm.
ehren, our 3 year old, made up this sweet song that night, which we now sing each might before bed..."rain, thunder & sun
it is dark, it is dark
in the day the sun will light"
it is such a sweet verse...full of a gentle love & reverence for mother nature. i love it...
that is so sweet! we sing a lot, too. unfortunately, my almost 3 yr old has never had much tolerance for mama's singing. :( he tries to hush me and cover my mouth almost every time! little stinker.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet little song. I would love to sing, but am shy about it. I grew up being told my voice was aweful. Now I wish I coudl just et over it and sing, but I don't know many songs and making up my own seems foolish. We have been "singing" a morning verse each day. Any recomendations for song books or CD to help us along?
ReplyDeleterae...orin, our eldest, used to do the same thing to me when he was 2/3 yrs old. at first, it made me sad...really! but i didn't stop. he is now 10 & sings right along with me & is constantly making up songs of his own...
ReplyDeleteso, i must have gotten better over the years. :)
keep at it mama!
elizabeth...a lot of foks in the waldorf circles really love the Mary Thienes-Schunemann books & cds, or others like Sing Through the Day.
ReplyDeletei have put these on in the background, but honestly they are a bit high pitched for my own voice & i don't read music.
what helped me most for our morning circles was hunting down sweet verses from books like A Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme & other sources that worked with whatever we were working on in our lessons & the season, etc & them putting them to song.
at first i would use melodies that i knew (twinkle, twinkle little stay, old suzanna, etc) & then gradually i began to make up my own melodies.
i rise early, at 6am, so that i have 2 hours a day before the children wake. i would compile our circle times, usually 1/season (with notation about various festival songs/verses... michaelmas, advent, etc) & i would write them down on a scrap piece of paper & practice them every day for a week before bringing them to the children. we have 3 boys & a 1year old, & prefer to do our circle time at the beginning of our morning walk (that is really the only way i have found that works for our VERY ACTIVE children).
*for the first week, i would also keep that piece pf paper stashed in my back pocket, just in case i forgot which cong came next, or a line of a song, etc)
i hope that you are able to use some of this advice...i love singing with our children...& i find it brings much peace to our days! <3
What a lovely post...there is nothing sweeter though, than a spontaneous child led song!! Good move to write that one down mamma!!
ReplyDelete:) maureen