MY TODDLER'S DAILY PLAYLIST

The most frequent piece of advice I received as a new mom was to "get into a routine" as soon as possible. At first it was to regulate my daughter's circadian rhythm, and then it was to help her learn sequencing, and now at 18 months, it is to help promote independence.

Although I am not new to schedules, routines, and regiments, it can be challenging to establish one with a curious, rambunctious, and sometimes rebellious toddler! Not to mention, life happens, things don't go as planned, or I am just downright too tired to persuade a one year old to clean up at exactly 11:00am.

While I would love for her to just drop all of her awesome toys to come eat lunch or walk away calmly after having a blast at the park, more often than not, it takes a lot of warnings, persuading, and sometimes even tears. To help mitigate the tears, tantrums, and power struggles, I added music to our transition and routine.

Using music is a great way to help toddlers transitions. While, we as adults can mentally prepare ourselves for a transition (we can tell time, etc.), to toddlers, transitions can feel abrupt, frustrating, and sometimes even threatening.

I use music to help keep things fun, lighthearted, and gain cooperation. When the music starts, it's not me "the sometimes scary authority figure that I think it is funny to run away from and rebel against" telling you what to do. To a toddler,  the music started by a random abstract entity that is asking them to spur into action, and it isn't something easy to fight against.

Why I use music instead of words (Five more minutes, we're going to clean up soon, etc.)

It's obvious that time means nothing to a toddler, and half the time they are so used to your voice, they end up tuning you right out!

Music may be repetitious and follows familiar patterns, but this structure, much like a routine, equals safety.  A change in intonation and tempo can easily grab a toddlers attention, and instinctually get their body moving. Therefore, music is also great at helping your child transition between high energy activities (running around) to low energy activities (sitting down and eating or getting ready for a story) or vice versa.

What type of music I use

Using music with lyrics that reflect what should be going on will help your child know what to do and what to expect. Although your one year old may not understand the lyrics 100% at first, it still goes a long way to play appropriate music, which will then help them connect the vocabulary with the action down the line.

How do I incorporate music into our routine?

• I typically use the same song every time. There are tons of clean-up songs, teeth brushing songs, etc., but I pick one she likes and stick with it.
• I ask my husband to also use the same songs as well, and we communicate when it is time to start the music.
• I try to choose songs that are available on YouTube. This way, I can access the songs anywhere, from anyone's device if need be!
• I don't use music for every little task. I choose music for typically challenging transitions, such as teeth brushing, cleaning up, etc. I don't have a "Let's play outside song" or "let's drink tea" song.
• The most important thing is that we all respect the song. When I play the music, I also spur into action. I don't just push play and sit down. When it is time for her to clean up, it is also time for me to clean up.

Since our daughter is bilingual, we use a mixture of English songs and Japanese songs. Some songs I made up, but most of them you can find on YouTube. I started using music from day one, starting from a good night song, good morning song, and a trigger song for nap times.

Good Morning Song

I created a morning song to the tune of  "Frere Jacques". I use this song to wake her up in the morning.

"Good Morning. Good Morning. How are you? How are you? Very well, Thank you. Very well, thank you. How about you? How about you? I then switch and sing in Japanese "Ohayou gozaimasu. Ohayou gozaimasu. Ogenki desuka? Ogenki desuka? Genki desu. Arigatou. Genki desu Arigatou. Anata ha? Anata ha?

On the way to nursery school, we use a Japanese song called  朝の歌. This song gets her prepared to enter nursery school, and it's also great that her nursery school uses this song as well during their morning circle.

Changing Clothes

Recently our daughter started crying when changing her clothes. It first started with her running away when it was time to change her diaper, but then it escalated to completely hating changing her clothes. While I let her help as much as I can, such as asking her to get her diaper, throw it away, or slip her arms into her shirt, there's still so much she can't do on her own, which frustrates her. So, we started playing a "changing clothes" song that literally makes changing her clothes a breeze! I oscillated between two songs, "Put on Your Shoes" by Super Simple Songs, and おきがえのうた by ドレミちゃんアニメ. Eventually, we stuck with おきがえのうた. For now we don't have any issue getting ready to go outside, as she loves getting her socks, bags, etc. So, we just use it for big clothing changes, like in the morning or after a bath.

Time to Eat

I tried playing a song to eat, but it seemed like overkill. Her meals are regimented, so she is usually hungry when it is time to eat, so not much fight there. So, just singing a simple jingle was enough to get her transitioned to sitting in her chair to eat. This song is to the melody of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

Chew, Chew, Chew along everything you eat. Chew, Chew, Chew, Chew, life is what you eat. Let's Eat! 

After the jingle, we say "みんなでパチン！*Clasp hands together* いただきます！", which is what they say at nursery school. 

Bath Time

Our daughter loves bath time, but she doesn't like transitioning to bath time, which consists of cleaning up, taking her temperature, and changing out of our clothes. So, we decided to use a popular bath time song from the famous Japanese television show いないいないばぁっ！ The song is called ボンボン・シャボン . This song is short, sweet, and fun.

Clean Up Song

The reason we decided to use a clean-up song wasn't because she refused to clean up, but because she didn't understand the concept of cleaning up at first! We played the song and she watched us clean up, but now at 18 months she helps... sometimes. We decided to go with the very famous English Clean-Up song.

Story Time

This story time song is just so that she can calm down and begin the nighttime routine. It's a jingle and we sing it right before opening up the storybook of the evening

Story, story, story time. Everyone sits for the story time. Quiet, quiet, quiet time. Everyone is quiet for the story time.

Night Time Trigger Song

I've been singing the traditional A,B,C song as a trigger for sleep since she was a newborn. I used to have to sing it a dozen times, but now I only sing it once while we gather her sleeping buddy, turn on her white noise, and I put her down in her crib. I don't know if I'll change this one, but I'm pretty sure if she ever hears it in school, she might just fall asleep.

Good Night Song

I can't really explain the melody of this jingle, as I modeled it off of another melody I heard from someone without knowing the origin, but we've also have been singing this one since she was a newborn and my husband and I created it together. 

Goodnight, Papa. Goodnight, Mama. Goodnight, *daughter's name*, we'll see you tomorrow. Oyasumi, Papa. Oyasumi, Mama. Oyasumi, *daughters name*. Mata, Ashita ne!

Welp, that's our daily playlist! We hope that these can help inspire your own playlist, and that transitions go smoother and are more upbeat in the future! As you can see, we don't have songs for every little thing, which allows her to still get experience following our directions, but these songs really help a lot!

We are thinking once she turns two, just like she would at school when entering a new class, changing the songs to match her age and abilities, but for now, we have these songs on repeat!