My “baby” turned 17 this year. We have a few rituals.

My youngest child sings like an angel. From the time she was an infant we sang to her during transition times.

If she fought her carseat (every single time) I just had to sing the first verse on “Old McDonald”

If she was crabby or fussy, we sang “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”. If she refused to sing we would feed her a few words and she couldn’t help herself: she would finish the verse.

These days, we sing in the car every morning on the way to school. Being the Christmas season, we are singing Christmas carols. The local station starts the holiday music November 1 and wraps it up December 26.

The rest of the year we sing songs from our favorite musicals. This is a treasured time for our family.