Toddler sing-along

Recently I designed the flyer above for my friend Rebekka's new Toddler Sing-along groups and it was lovely to participate in one of the first groups today.

These days I find myself really enjoying music and singing with the kids. Which seems kind of strange for me as I'd always thought of myself as not particularly musical. BC (before children) I remember being mortified if anyone heard me sing, I thought my voice was that awful. And it possibly was, but these days it doesn't seem to matter so much and I so enjoy singing all the kids songs. And they don't care if I sing off key, well at least not for now they don't :-)

There seems to have been a lot of talk lately in the media and on the streets about parenting and whether it makes us happy or not, and whether mothering is joyful or hard work (see Fi's interesting post 'Motherhood Lark' here). One thought I had was that for me, an unexpected lovely side effect of having children is a greater general enjoyment of music and singing. Seeing their little faces light up when music comes on or we sing is fantastic, and I finally enjoy participating too.

A little bit of kindness

I finished making this little baby set recently for my friend Alison who has bought quite a few of these now as presents for newborns, this one for a girl, and blue sets for boys.



Alison has always been so supportive of me and my hobby/little business. Words of kindness and encouragement can turn your day around, don't you think?



I had a conversation with a dad friend today (quick conversation, that is, with 2 year olds around!) about having a positive attitude, viewing the glass as half full etc. He and his wife were actively trying to be calmer and nicer, aiming to do 5 things a day that they thought might please each other.

It made me think about how a little bit of kindness can go so far, whether it's towards a stranger, a friend or our children. Occasionally when I see a potentially difficult late afternoon with my children coming up I stop and promise myself that I will try my best to be patient and not yell, to think about the fact that they are tired and hungry and just not able to cope so well at the moment. I try to be kind. Sometimes I fail miserably, as I guess most parents do, but I'm going to try a bit more.