Music class offers new groove for reporter, daughter

I'm a big believer of letting kids be kids. To me, that means not over scheduling children in an array of activities just to make their parents happy.

Although my opinion hasn't been swayed entirely, I recently signed my 2-year-old daughter Maria up for a Kindermusik class.

Kindermusik is a widely known music and movement class for young children. The activity meets once a week for 45 minutes at The Learning Center in Moses Lake.

My mother-in-law, Debi, recommended I enroll Maria in the class if I could find it in town.

A few months ago, an e-mail arrived in my work account, announcing Kindermusik would be offered through the Moses Lake Parks and Recreation Department in September.

So I signed Maria up and started telling her about how much fun she would have.

I have to admit, I was getting excited too. Maria and I hadn't taken a class together before and I know how much she enjoys music and playing with other children.

At home, she sings very short excerpts of the song "Tomorrow" from the musical "Annie" and a variety of other tunes. She claps and sings in the backseat of the car too, just to entertain herself. And she's also been known to bust a move at sporting events when music is played. The class seemed like a natural fit for her.

Sept. 5 was Day 1 of Maria's Kindermusik experience.

We arrived at The Learning Center a few minutes early and were greeted by the teacher, who introduced herself and asked us to remove our shoes.

Maria was a bit skittish of the new environment. She didn't want to remove her sandals, so I did it for her while holding her in my lap. At that point, she wrapped her arms and legs around me in a bear hug of sorts. We eventually made it over to a large mat set up for about eight moms and their kids.

Maria became more relaxed in her new surroundings, but was totally enthralled by her sticker nametag for some of the session and played with it for a while. (Yes, she's seen stickers before) Fortunately, pounding on a small drum and ringing the hand bells piqued her curiosity.

The songs played throughout the class were well-done. Some tunes that made me smile were two songs, one about dusting and another about a washing machine.

Who knows, maybe hearing songs about chores will program Maria to enjoy household work before she reaches pre-school. That would be really cool.

The class eventually ended. We picked up Maria's new packet of musical CDs and books, said good-bye and walked out the door.

Upon reaching my car, she tried to run back into the building, maybe to see her new friends.

I caught her, strapped her into the car seat and started the car to drive home.

A few minutes into the drive, Maria gave me her take of Kindermusik in two words: "fun class."

Lynne Lynch is the Columbia Basin Herald agriculture and business reporter. Her coworkers now wait for her to appear at a staff meeting toting hand bells and drums.