I learned to love lullabies when my mother, aunt and grandmother would sing me to sleep, as a little one. Such sweet memories...

 

        While working at a daycare centre, as most of my colleagues got stressed out when it was nap time, I loved singing the kids to sleep! My favorite part of the day was sitting by a bedside of a child, while gently caressing them and singing a song to gently guide them into a dream world... while they try to fight the wave of tiredness that softly pulls down their eyelids.

 

        I also loved playing classical music for the kids at the centre, even when the other adults didn't understand my choice. I began to miss the fun and sweet music composed for kids, and my plan to one day make a lullaby album was born... even if it took nearly ten years to gain the courage to actually do it!

 

        I have always worked with children, of all ages, and believe I always will. Most recently, I have been working with mostly adolescents and teens. As affectionate and cuddly as I’d been with the daycare children, I've still felt the need to love the older kids in the same way. One of the greatest compliments I receive is when I go to the school to pick up some of the kids, they run right up and hug me. Most of the time, it is just the girls... so it’s one of my guilty pleasures to pull boys on my lap, tickling them, and knowing it may turn into a wrestling match. Unfortunately, I’m also aware that there is an age, at which this becomes potentially embarrassing for them- even though I can feel their need to be wrapped in unconditional love, snuggled up and held, just like when they were younger. Out of frustration of not being able to provide that affection for them, I wrote my 'Lullaby for Big Boys." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        I’m not trying to write a manifesto for more more hugging and physical contact here (although I have to admit to being a big fan and ambassador of both)... I just think it’s a misconception that we adults stop to needing that kind of love, as our bodies become to big to easily pick up or to snuggle up on a lap; we tend to forget that we need sweet soothing and comforting love, every now and then. For this reason, I am equally dedicated to offering adults the consolation of lullabies, as I am to sharing them with children.

 

        As must of us know, giving that kind of love feels just as heart-warming, as the receiving of it. That’s why it is my prayer for the lullabies

I sing to be as sweet and comforting to those I sing for, as they are to me.