Happy New Year to all our music friends! We hope you rang in the new year with loved ones and celebrated in whatever way brings you joy. Whether you stay up late and count down until midnight, or you tuck in early to get a good night’s sleep.

Now that we’ve had two weeks off of our normal lives and routines we all feel a little off-kilter. Our routines ground us. Our routines give our children a sense of security and predictability. When those routines go out the window and are replaced with vacation, holidays, visits, celebrations, or parties, we all feel a little out of equilibrium.

Have you noticed your children are more irritable than usual? Are they more prone to tantrums lately? It’s likely because their routines have been disrupted. So this week as you get back into the swing of your regularly scheduled lives, we encourage you to re-establish your children’s routines as well. Bring back that security and sense of normalcy for them and you’ll see them slip back into normal behavior patterns.

That is if you can consider any child’s behavior patterns normal. It seems like just when we get a grip on whatever development changes our children experience they are changing again and we are back to figuring out how to manage them. So keep those rituals and routines you have in your family rock-solid.

Sing that bedtime/bath time/diaper time song together. Pull out the I Love You Ritual that you learned in your Kindermusik class. Slow down for a minute and CONNECT with your little one. Engage in some intentional touch, be fully present, make eye contact with them, and enjoy a little playfulness. It will boost those feel-good hormones for both you and your child and ground you, ready for what comes your way next.

From the HEART of our studio and our JOY team we wish you the happiest of New Years as we get through this winter together. See you soon!