I’m fairly certain that I’m not alone with having grumpy kids who refuse to get out of bed in the morning. Or who finds herself with a houseful of stress or tension. Or who needs to rally the troops for a trip to the grocery store. I also think it is safe to assume that I am not the only one deciding at 3pm if coffee or Diet Coke sounds better. Health professionals usually advise that getting out and taking a brisk walk will help alleviate tension and stress, increase motivation and reduce fatigue. However, when you have children with you, your ability to leave it all behind and take a brisk walk is often compromised. After several attempts to figure out a solution, including brisk walks with the kids, I’ve instituted a policy of spontaneous dance parties to help move all of us in the right direction.
At first, my kids were convinced that I had lost my mind. Somehow seeing their mother dance around the house encouraging them to grab a hairbrush and sing along didn’t mesh with their idea of “what moms do” (according to my 10-year old son). It didn’t take long, though, for them to figure out that dancing your way to a better mood is fun.
We now have a family playlist that we all access when it’s time to dance. It has become part of our routine to share songs we like. Yesterday, my 19-year old came in the kitchen with her laptop to play us her new favorite song. With my caveat that it has to be clean for the 3-year old, we decided to add “Happy Face” by Destiny’s Child to our playlist. It was a nice 2-minute dance break in the dinner preparation.
Here are the top 5 songs on our family’s playlist. I would encourage you to involve you kids in putting together one for your family. Then, the next time the crabbiness or “I’m bored” moods hit, hand out some hairbrushes and start dancing.
1. What I Am, Will.i.am
2. World Hold On, Bob Sinclair
3. Life is A Highway, Rascal Flatts
4. Soak Up The Sun, Sheryl Crow
5. Happy Face, Destiny’s Child
Kristy Campbell is an actress and writer and contributes to MariaShriver.com, Mommytracked, and Huffington Post. Her work can be found at www.kristycampbellcreative.com.
