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My Daughter Can’t Sing, Should I Tell Her?
The ultimate parenting dilemma that tears me apart
Just a boring Sunday afternoon, calm and peaceful, just me and my girls — everyone is immersed in some craft, they draw and paint and learn technology (as in playing on the iPad). I’m writing and the difficulties of the world seem so far away. Nothing to think or worry about.
My youngest daughter, 4 years old, comes up to me, signals that I should take my earphones out — well yeah, I knew it couldn’t last forever.
‘Mum. Mum. Muuuuuuummmmmy…’
She’s tugging on my shirt, even if I already hear her she needs to repeat “mum” endlessly. It better be something important.
‘Mum, I invented a game, let’s play.
Okay, what now?
‘I will hum a song and you need to guess it.’
Fine, it seems easy. Let’s do it. I nod and tell her I’m listening. She starts humming, it goes on for a while. It doesn’t sound like anything I know. It sounds like a little hungry kitten, who is also in some inexplicable pain.
I admit I have no idea, so she restarts it. She does a funny dance to accompany the sounds and when she’s done, she’s looking at me with sparks in her eyes, with eternal anticipation. I honestly have no…
