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Archive for June 2nd, 2009

beachdanceIt’s a common action of a mother to pick up a baby and begin swaying her hips to soothe the child. The motion seems to tie into listening to music and moving with it. Often young babies and toddlers react to music. One can see this in the market of music for children and soothing babies. Another fun connection is live music classes designed for mothers and their young children.

My daughter and I tried our first music class together, a program called Music Together, when she was about six to eight months old. The program encouraged mixed ages of children, gave the parents a song book and a cassette tape or CD of the music they taught, and loved parent involvement. The children experimented with music instruments, danced and sang for about an hour each week. We loved the classes and had fun with the other families involved.

Later (at three years old or so) we were introduced to another music program called Kindermusik. Kindermusik is oriented more at having just the child explore music and instruments. Their programs taught various age appropriate instruments to the children and parents were only invited to join in some classes. Regardless of the approach for these music programs, the children loved being involved with the music making.

I’m convinced some of these young experiences have helped influence my daughter’s music preferences now at the age of eight. She’s ready for her own iPod playlists!

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bandaidReading Dawn’s post about her school field trip mishap made me think about my teaching days. When I used to be an elementary school teacher, I went through boxes of Band-Aids. And I do mean BOXES! Not because my students were injured all the time, but because they felt that for every little “boo-boo,” a Band-Aid somehow made it all better. Now by “boo-boo” I’m talking about:

  • a little scratch
  • an insect bite
  • an old bump
  • a bruise
  • a scar
  • sometimes, a student would even go as far as picking an old scab just to get it bleeding for a Band-Aid!

Now that my oldest is school-aged, a fascination for Band-Aids has developed. And I was never one to pass out Band-Aids at home so I’m quite intrigued where this Band-Aid interest came from. Could it be because of these bandages now look like fancy stickers? There is quite a range of different characters to choose from—Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Spider Man, Scooby-Doo. Who wouldn’t want to sport one these cool bandages? Because nothing says, “I’m injured but still stylin'” like a Barbie-wrapped finger!

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