For the past two years, I’ve had a Friday class of all boys. It’s a class I look forward to all week. I love their energy and their laughter. I love the way they constantly need to move and play out LOUD. I secretly smile as they make inappropriate jokes (usually some kind of bathroom humor that they always find hysterical) and watch with pride as they interact socially...teaching each other, helping each other with their glockenspiels and showing off their vast array of tricks.
Yesterday was their first day in what Kindermusik calls The Young Child 2. Young Child is basically a pre-piano course that starts laying the foundation of rhythm, dynamics and note-reading. It offers the opportunity to explore your emotions through music and to discover how our bodies move and react to music. It introduces composers, musical genres and instrument families. Mostly, though, it’s just fun. One day we might blast off from a rocket and soar through space before landing (crashing) back to Earth. Another week, we’ll play a game of musical baseball (complete with a plastic ball and bat.) As the mom of a very literal 4 ½ year old boy, I know that you better not use the word baseball if sliding into home isn’t going to be a reality! :)
Boys need to move. They need the freedom to explore and be silly and be loud. They also need time to settle their little bodies and focus. Music is the perfect tool to teach boys how to relax and develop impulse control and listening skills.
I’ve had so many mommies tell me they don’t sign up because they know their son won’t sit still and listen. I’m like, “duh!” nobody sits still in Kindermusik! How boring would that be! Kindermusik is a perfect place for boys…the runners, the thinkers, the dancers, the karate “choppers”, the baseball players, the wrestlers, the singers and the soon to be glockenspiel players!
So, back to yesterday...I welcomed “my boys” back for another semester of Kindermusik with one very obvious change. As I closed the door and started to begin, Joey says, very loudly (because, well, he’s a boy!) “Why are those girls in here?” I didn’t understand him at first so Wesley chimed in, “GIRLS! GIRLS! WHY ARE THOSE GIRLS IN HERE??”
And with that, we welcomed two precious girls to the Friday morning mix. After the initial confusion (and near hysteria) at the thought of our little “pink invaders," my easy going boys forgot all about them. I had to laugh, though, because what they don’t know is that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of little pink invaders!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Don't have time? Ask a grandparent!
When I first started teaching Kindermusik, I had a student in Village, our baby class, who came with her Nanny. I wasn’t a mom at the time, and I thought it was a little strange. Didn’t her parents want to bring her? Didn’t her mom or dad want to treasure that time together and bond as a family?
Fast forward 9 years and NOW I get it (well, actually I “got it” just a few short months after Coulter was born.) Kindermusik is about community. Kindermusik is about children and families and all the people---parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, nannies, babysitters, and neighbors---that make up our family. Kindermusik embraces the truth that “It takes a Village.” It wasn’t that those parents didn’t want to attend, it was that they valued Kindermusik so much, they found whatever way they could to make sure their daughter had the absolute best early music experience.
Over the past several years, it’s become quite common for children to come with a grandparent or babysitter. I love the class dynamics that are created from the variety of caregivers and I love that for families like mine, who don’t have grandparents close by, we can extend our village by adopting someone else’s grandmother.
The baby that I mentioned, well, she basically grew up in Kindermusik. Someone in her village always made sure she was there. She is now one of my best piano students. She is a part of my family. Her parents are some of the most involved and dedicated parents that I know. They inspire me to make right choices for my children. They inspire me to keep signing up even though I detest the cold and the snow and basically going outside for any reason at all until April. They inspire me to keep signing up because all I have to do is look at their daughter and know that “a good beginning never ends!”
Fast forward 9 years and NOW I get it (well, actually I “got it” just a few short months after Coulter was born.) Kindermusik is about community. Kindermusik is about children and families and all the people---parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, nannies, babysitters, and neighbors---that make up our family. Kindermusik embraces the truth that “It takes a Village.” It wasn’t that those parents didn’t want to attend, it was that they valued Kindermusik so much, they found whatever way they could to make sure their daughter had the absolute best early music experience.
Over the past several years, it’s become quite common for children to come with a grandparent or babysitter. I love the class dynamics that are created from the variety of caregivers and I love that for families like mine, who don’t have grandparents close by, we can extend our village by adopting someone else’s grandmother.
The baby that I mentioned, well, she basically grew up in Kindermusik. Someone in her village always made sure she was there. She is now one of my best piano students. She is a part of my family. Her parents are some of the most involved and dedicated parents that I know. They inspire me to make right choices for my children. They inspire me to keep signing up even though I detest the cold and the snow and basically going outside for any reason at all until April. They inspire me to keep signing up because all I have to do is look at their daughter and know that “a good beginning never ends!”
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