Monday, January 30, 2012

singing in the morning

My son was an early riser. By early, I mean objectively early, 5:30 am on the dot from the time he was six months till 4, at which point, between reading the clock, putting cereal on the table and turning on lights, he was able to manage without me having to get up. The new "late" meant sometime after 6 am, officially 6:30. Now, not only he would get up early, but he would also quite cheerfully announce that it's morning by singing. Or banging out a rhythm. Or belting out a poem. Whichever way, everyone knew pretty early on that he was up and happy to be that way.

Till this morning, when he "again" woke up a bit after six and then proceeded to sing about it, I didn't notice that he was not doing that early morning routine. In fact, he hasn't done it in months. I assumed that he was growing up, finally sleeping in, had to be woken up for school occasionally. But today I realized that he also wasn't singing.

Don't get me wrong, this kid was doing well in school. He wasn't bullied, at least not to the point that you interfere. He was doing his homework and school work. Teachers were not complaining. But this morning, when he broke into his joyous, excessively early song, I realized that he was not happy to get up for the past couple months.

How many grown-ups readily announce that they are not morning people when, really, it's just that you do not want to deal with the upcoming day?

If all that this experiment produces is a child who is happy to get up and go at it, I will consider myself to be successful.

3 comments:

  1. Wow. These kinds of things are what keep us going when things get rougher!

    Amital

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  2. very interesting about his singing. I noticed that my own kids are so hard to get out of bed during the week, but come Shabbos and Sunday and they are up bright and early, downstairs getting their own breakfast and starting their day with singing, dancing, and building toys while I get a little more sleep. It's amazing how self-motivated kids (and adults) are when there's something exciting in their upcoming day.

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  3. My younger son has been singing in the morning ever since he was a baby. I think it signifies an inner joy and peace that is worth nurturing and protecting. Yasher koach on your new family learning path and the lovely tunes that are coming your way! :)

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