The top 5 lessons I learned at Kindermusik

Monday was the last day of Kindermusik and I think Fuller did really well, which is a great way to end the semester. The class went back to songs that we learned at the beginning of the semester and since Fuller listens to those the most on his CD, he got into singing most of the songs. That night he surprised me when one of our bedtime songs was a modified "Goodbye."

I sang "Goodnight" and he echoed with "Goodnight" just like the song. My heart and face smiled so! big! We finished the song, prayed, and then Fuller hugged me, saying, “Bye Mommy!”

I'm still not sure if we will go back to Kindermusik in the fall, but right now, I know that this was a good thing for us to do. Fuller was exposed to some social skills, got to enjoy singing, and experienced an environment with more group structure than he gets in the church nursery.

Sometimes there is a stigma to taking your child to a class like Kindermusik. I guess some people might thing that it is a gateway drug to over scheduling your child for every class, playgroup, or that it might be a waste of money.

But I don’t think that way. In fact, I think that since I have been taking Fuller to Kindermusik I have learned some important lessons in parenting:

1. Relax, relax, relax. I find that I get really tense when I am at Kindermusik. Fuller is so active that he often is running circles around the room while the other kids are sitting properly on their parents’ laps. This bothers me, but as long as he doesn’t interrupt the class with his antics (which he did at some points), he is ok. And he’s still learning. It was often that he would see the other kids doing something properly, and he would then turn and do the same.

2. There are lots of ways to move. I really appreciated Miss Tina taking time to talk to the parents about different ways to get our kids to move. It isn’t just about jumping and clapping, but there is creeping and spinning, reaching high and reaching low. It stretched my mind to think of the different ways Fuller can express movement.

3. Movement and speech together make a greater impact. During class, the kids would get different items to explore. Sometimes it was a scarf, sometimes it was bells. When exploration time was over, Miss Tina would sing “Scarves away, scarves away.” At home, when we are picking up Fuller’s blocks, Fuller sings “Blocks away, blocks away” and he does it until they are all put away.

4. Playing with instruments does more than make noise. There was always exploration time with different instruments. I admit that I often enjoyed playing with the bells or drums myself. By allowing Fuller to take the time to beat a cymbal loud and soft, or keep beat with “Polly Wally Doddle,” he was making much more than noise.

5. I need to ask for help. I finally realized one day that if someone else asked Fuller to do something, he would actually do it. It didn’t matter how many times I asked Fuller to sit on my lap, he just kept zooming around the room. Finally, I desperately asked Miss Tina to ask Fuller to sit in his Mommy’s lap. And he did it! Something clicked and I think Miss Tina realized that Fuller needed someone to address him specifically to help him calm down.

I’m glad the classes are over for the summer and we won’t have to be anywhere on Mondays for a while, but I am even more grateful for the lessons that I learned as a parent. Thanks, Miss Tina!

This entry is posted for the Problogger Top 5 writing project.