I am NO singer.
I mean I love to sing in my car and can bust a move while singing along to my favourite tune but Idols will never be on my bucket list of life. If it were I would probably be a shoe in for the wooden mike.
That being said, I have found a really effective tool that I use with the kids when they are pushing back on doing something that I am asking them to do. I make up funny little ditties and we sing them together to get the job done… tone deaf mom and all!
Gemma is not keen on brushing her teeth at the moment and I made up a song about brushing teeth when Kade was small so now we all dance and sing the song like loons and she now asks to brush her teeth. This is the song we sing (or hum when the toothbrushes are in our mouths)
“Brush, Brush, Brush your teeth, Get them nice and clean…. Get them clean and sparkling… Brush, Brush, Brush your teeth” (to the tune of Row your boat) Some mornings we do it opera style, some mornings we are rock stars, sometimes even heavy metal goes down. The main thing is my kids teeth are brushed and in good nick.
The other song I love to sing with them is the Mr Bum Bum song. Kade hated having his butt washed while he was potty training but there was often just cause to give it an extra good clean (my worse part of motherhood is the poo undies/panties, it makes me GRIIILLL). So I made up the Mr Bum bum song which we sing in the bath while we wash his and her butts. It goes like this:
“Mr Bum Bum, let out a fart… make the room smell like pineapple tart… bum bum bum, Mr Bum Bum lets get you clean, cos this bum is a farting machine! Mr Bum Bum, you are so cute… cos this bum is a little poop chute”
Both the kids LOVE this silly little song and wiggle and waggle their butts to it in the bath. I laugh and laugh.
There are many songs I’ve made up to get my kids to do the things they are giving me a hard time about doing…
What is your mommy hack for getting things done when your kids are defiant?
Communiqué 