The Voice They Love Most

Imagine going to a concert where you know every song. You know all the words. You’re excited because it’s your favorite singer performing. You know everyone is going to sing along. You probably will too.

This infectious wonderful feeling I’m describing is exactly what we want for your child in class. The feeling where you already know the song and can’t wait to hear it being sung around you. You may not realize it, but you’re the one who makes that feeling possible for your child.

When your child hears our songs often at home, they walk into class already knowing them. The music isn’t strange to them. It’s familiar, and familiar feels safe. Not only does it feel safe, it feels awesome. A child who hears their loved ones singing the songs regularly is far more likely to experiment with their own voice. They imagine themselves singing and slowly begin to try it themselves, either in class or in their own safe moments at home.

When they’re somewhere safe, perhaps with you not engaged with them, that’s when they take the leap. It might be a first sound, or a single word at the end of a line, or a hand that finds the beat. Those are the moments we love most, and they come far more easily to a child who already knows the song.

The opposite is true too. A child hearing a song for the first time, in a room full of movement, has a lot to sort out all at once. They might get there, but they’re starting from further back.

Singing at home won’t erase every hard morning or every distraction. Some days are simply hard, and that’s fine. But familiarity moves the needle in your child’s favor, because it hands them the one thing that makes joining in feel possible: recognition.

Now think about that concert again. Why is it better to hear the original artist than a cover band? Cover bands can be wonderful, but there’s nothing like the real thing, the voice a song actually belongs to. To your child, you are the original. The voice they want to hear most.

Your child loves hearing our teachers sing, and I’m glad they do. But your voice, trained or untrained, polished or not, is the one that matters most in their life. To hear the person they love most singing the song they love most is something no recording and no teacher can replace. That’s why we sing live in class instead of pressing play, and it’s why singing at home in your own ordinary voice does so much more than you think.

We learn best from the people we love. That’s true for your child, and it’s still true for you. Everything is more meaningful when it comes from someone who matters to us.

There’s one more thing a recording can never do. It can’t hold your child. When your little one is on your lap, looking at the pictures in our songbook or getting snuggled or wiggled or bounced while you sing, the song becomes something they feel in their body and tie to the person who loves them. That’s why they ask for it again. Not because it’s good for them, but because it’s wrapped up in the affection of the one they love most.

So sing in the kitchen. Sing in the car. Sing the wrong words and the wrong notes and laugh about it. You don’t need to be good. Coming from you, it means so much more.

There’s a spot for your family if you’d like to come sing with us. Come hear what it sounds like at mistermikesmusic.com.