Add Music Into Your Family's Daily Routines

Parenting is a lot like making music — both require a lot of creativity! Any parent who has ever opened a fridge and had to remix the random items on the shelf into an edible snack should be considered an artist. Who but a creative visionary would pair celery, peanut butter, and raisins?

Like music, parenting requires us to improvise, collaborate, and think outside the box. Our kids can be our toughest critics! They’ll let us know if we’re off beat. And when the music’s just right, the household is full of peace and harmony.

My life as a dad has helped me create the character BoomBox for the podcast “Jamming on the Job.” BoomBox is a magical beat machine that uses beatboxing, electronic drums, and voice to help his co-stars Christina and Andres learn about the world of work. As a dad, I use those same tools to get my kids to do chores, such as cleaning up their rooms and brushing their teeth. The formula BoomBox uses for his songs is so simple it sounds like something you’d hear on the radio: “Make it a song — they’ll follow along!”

On my first children’s music album (titled D.a.D) I wrote a song called “Tooth Bruh” to convince my children that our bedtime routine was a game. I created a character named Tooth Bruh (the Tooth Fairy’s cousin) and used to chase the kids to their bathrooms, chanting, “I’m the Tooth Bruh, get your tooth brushed.” They had to twist the faucet and squeeze the toothpaste to avoid being tickled. My kids are a little older now, but even years later, they still sing this song with a smile when it’s time to brush their teeth.

As the voice of BoomBox, I make music so that countless other families can sample sounds from the world of work. My music gives them the chance to experience what people in different jobs hear while they work, like how a flame thrower sounds when a forest fire manager uses it, the thrumming blades of a wind turbine that a wind turbine technician works on, and the beeps and boops a robotics engineer might hear in the car they made. I get to weave these sounds into original songs for children and families!

I believe there is music in every parenting practice. In fact, you probably incorporate music into your daily routines with your child already.

1. Sing to your kids. I don't care if you joined the a cappella group in high school, are a karaoke-warrior, or only sing in the shower! Find a song you love and know the lyrics to and, unapologetically, lovingly and loudly: sing to, with, and for your kids. It can feel scary to share a song, but if we want our kids to grow up courageous and open-hearted, we can help them by modeling that behavior ourselves.

2. Beatbox for your babies. Beatboxing is an important element of hip-hop, rooted in rhythmic Black cultural traditions such as scatting, step dance, and drumming. You can beatbox with your mouth, use your fist and knuckle to bang onto a table, or even use your body. Experiment with your kids to create improvised sounds. Start a rhythm circle to see what magic you come up with (there are plenty of "beatboxing" tutorials on YouTube).

3. Write some lyrics. Do some writing inspired by your parenting practice. Pen a poem, a haiku, song lyrics, or even a journal entry. Write about an exciting or special part of your day as a parent, then share it with loved ones. Some prompts to get you started: What made you smile today? What was the peak and pit of your day? What are you grateful for?

All parenting is creative: whether you’re improvising in the kitchen, creating a bedtime story, or soothing your child when they get hurt — raIsing kids requires imagination, empathy and lots of practice. Hopefully, these three tools will be helpful to tap into your inner creativity. If you only get the confidence to try one or two, that’s OK. Pick the ones you’re drawn to. But if you can do all three steps and link them together: make a beat, write some lyrics, and sing — then you’ll activate your inner BoomBox!