music for parents

10 Songs for Community & Friendship

10 Songs for Community & Friendship

When the world feels a little heavy, it does the soul a lot of good to hang out with little kids. They tend to wear their heart on their sleeves, nothing stops them from giving a new friend a bear hug and pure joy is accessible just moments after sadness. 

Calming a Crying Baby (A Music Therapist's Method)

Calming a Crying Baby (A Music Therapist's Method)

We had some weekend visitors stay at our house not too long ago and they brought their sweet 18-month old. He was sick, missed a nap and was overstimulated after a long day in the sun. Predictably, he had a rough time calming down for a nap. Before long, it escalated to him being completely inconsolable. Within minutes, he was fast asleep. The method I used is something I've used time and time again with music therapy clients and my own daughter. 

Music for an Overwhelmed Parent

Music for an Overwhelmed Parent

I'd like to think that the first 6 months of my daughter's life were only blissful and carefree... uh, nope. It was HARD. She was a preemie with sensory issues that she (mostly) outgrew, but the sight of a ceiling fan could send her into an I-WILL-SCREAM-AND-NOTHING-WILL-CALM-ME meltdown that would simultaneously send me into my own special kind of meltdown.

It's no coincidence that I am so passionate about helping parents and educators find the right music that can help kids through life's (inevitable) challenges. Being a music therapist who worked with kids with sensory needs set me up to be the ideal parent for my own daughter. The process was FAR from perfect, but we learned a lot together.

Something I didn't expect??? Music helped ME in a miraculous kind of way.