Sing Sweet

I sing to my children every night once the lights are off and the kids are tucked in their beds. I’m sure like many and most mothers, singing bedtime songs is a ritual. It’s a way to close the day and another expression of motherly love before they drift off to sleep. I have my playlist of songs that I frequently sing, including Skidamarink-a-Dink-a-Dink and Give Said the Little Stream, but the favorite song of my kids’ is Sing Sweet Nightingale, from Disney’s Cinderella. The melody is soothing and angelic, and though the song only has about four different words in its entirety, it’s perfectly beautiful. My kids have started to sing along since they’ve easily memorized it.

Since my first child was born, I’ve tried singing several songs at bedtime wanting them to be “my song”. I’ve always wanted a song that when my children heard or sang, they would think of me and remember that that was the song I’d sing to them when they were young. There were songs that I ran into the ground thinking that would be THE song, but it just never stuck. Sing Sweet Nightingale has naturally evolved to be that song, the song that my children request of me every night. And it’s the perfect fit for me and my kids.

I’ve taken a lyric from this song and named my blog with it. To me, singing songs to our children – whether at bed time, for comfort, or on road trips – is a key component to motherhood. It’s a way of communicating to our children where we otherwise couldn’t. It’s a way to foster a magical, imagination-filled childhood.

Singing songs as a mother is inherent, no matter how good or squeaky your voice is. Your children identify and love you because of your voice. Your voice will always and forever be the voice of their mother.

So keep on singing. Sing sweet those loving words they long to hear.