I (Elise) walked into the empty room with a stack of children’s books under my arm and brightly colored children’s instruments in my bag. In the quiet before the children and mothers rushed in, I arranged the assorted instruments on the table. Their presence seemed to add a bit of playfulness to the otherwise sparingly decorated room. One by one, the 2- to 5-year-olds came rambling in with their mothers. Simon, Isabella, Olivia, and the other children jumped right into playing the jingle bells and shakers as the mothers greeted one another. As the children played, I chatted with their mothers, hoping to establish a small sense of safety and comfort.  

In 2020, I had the opportunity to teach weekly music classes at a home for young, unhoused mothers and their children through a partnership with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. These women and children had histories of poverty, violence, and trauma. As I talked to the mothers about their experiences—trying to provide for their children, protecting them, the struggles of being a mother, and where they were before they lived in this home—I was reminded of my own experience in raising my four adopted children who all have histories of childhood trauma. 

I consider myself a research-informed educator. I am confident in my ability to create high-quality curriculum for children, but sometimes I feel alone in my journey, or a bit like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it fall back down again. Sometimes feelings of doubt or insecurity can creep in as I wonder whether the activities I’m creating and teaching will have the impact I hope. That all changed when I learned about Smart Start. I felt confident and supported through the learning and resources I was able to gain in connection with the Royal Conservatory of Music. 

Not So Alone Anymore 

In 2019, a few years into my teaching at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, representatives from the Royal Conservatory of Music visited to discuss the Smart Start curriculum. As I explored the program, I noticed many interesting aspects of the curriculum. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so alone anymore: It felt like I had a team of people helping me push that boulder up the hill. That team includes Leah (second author), who is the director of Smart Start with the Royal Conservatory of Music. I have been able to partner with Leah, share my experiences, and help support the development of curriculum and programs to offer as a resource to other educators.  

Being a mother to children who have experienced trauma has given me a greater sense of empathy and understanding for mothers and children. It informs the three goals I keep in mind: 

• Create a space where the children and mothers feel safe. 
• Provide opportunities for bonding between mothers and children. 
• Empower the mothers and children, encouraging them to feel valued.  

By introducing children’s books and connecting the stories with music, I am able to work toward these goals and offer the children and mothers ways to connect with their own experiences and each other. 

Creating a Safe Space 

It’s important that we value children’s experiences; validate their realities, emotions, and feelings; and give them space for exploration and expression (Hope 2012). I believe that children’s books provide the opportunity for children to make connections to their own experiences, helping to create a safe space where they feel connected. I also know that listening to music can affect cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, such as helping it to drop more drastically after experiencing a stressful event (Khalfa 2003) like coming into a new classroom for the first time. 

One of my favorite activities in the Smart Start curriculum is based on the book The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats. In The Snowy Day, a little boy named Peter gets to explore his neighborhood after the first snowfall of the season. In class, we sing a song about wearing mittens while we read the book. One day, a 4-year-old boy named Simon saw the picture of Peter building a snowman and shared about a time he built a snowman himself. Simon and his mother were living at the home after struggling to find a shelter. At the beginning of our classes, Simon exhibited difficulties with self-regulation and attention. Over the weeks, he became more attentive and positively engaged in class. The story he shared was not an outburst, but rather a welcome addition to our activity that helped the other children make connections to the book and their own experiences.  

Through my work and relationships with unhoused children, I have found that they live with a lot of uncertainty in their lives, and they often act impulsively, such as jumping around or climbing on things in unsafe ways or at unsafe times. It’s important to provide these children with the opportunity to express varying degrees of energy in safe ways. Connected to the curriculum, I do multiple activities with the book Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, to help them learn to regulate their energy levels.  

For example, when we get to the wild rumpus, the children take turns pretending to be Max as they all stomp around the room, using their voices to be “wild.” I’ve read research that supports the idea that trauma lives in the body (McFarlane 2010; van der Kolk 2014), so providing children the opportunity to move their bodies and take up space can support their bodies and minds. During one of the classes when I used this book, one mother, Makayla, shared that she struggled to help her daughter manage emotions. When she watched her daughter bouncing around the room pretending to be a wild thing, she was so relieved to have a safe space where her child could be as loud as she wanted.  

When the wild things are sleeping, we sing a lullaby as the children pretend to sleep on the floor. I have found that this activity helps to bring their cortisol levels down and calm them after the wild rumpus. When I look around the room, I often see expressions of love and care on every mother’s face.  

Providing Opportunities for Bonding 

Evidence suggests that parental support is a strong mitigating factor in childhood trauma. Parental support, including positive involvement in the child’s activities—like the music classes I teach—and expressions of affection and warmth toward the child provide a sense of security (Marsac et al. 2013).  

In all my years of teaching, I’ve been hard-pressed to find a better way to connect family members and children than music. Olivia, a 2 1/2-year-old girl in the weekly music classes that I taught, was particularly talkative and creative. One day she shared how she and her mom, Adrianne, loved to sing and dance. That day, we read We All Go Traveling By, by Sheena Roberts and illustrated by Siobhan Bell. In this story, we went on a journey to school where we learned about colors and modes of transportation. We sang a song, and the children created special noises for each vehicle.   

It was obvious that this activity was one of Olivia’s favorites. After a few more weeks, Adrianne and Olivia came into class excited to share a new version of the song they’d come up with at home. They were both so proud of what they had created together. This was an opportunity for the other mothers to witness how bringing books and music together provides an opportunity to bond. Having witnessed Adrianne and Olivia’s joyful performance, the mothers immediately had more interest in participating with their children rather than just observing. 

Empowering Families with Books and Music 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines empowerment as “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights” (2023). A recent study found that if a person has a belief in their right to a happy life, even after experiencing trauma, that belief empowers them to move toward a more positive future (Confino et al. 2023).  

Swimmy, by Leo Lionni, is a book about a small fish named Swimmy who is the only one left after his school has a run-in with a tuna. Swimmy finds a new group of fish and together they develop a plan to explore the ocean. When we read Swimmy, I play music while the children move like the creatures Swimmy encounters on his adventure. During one class when we read this story, 3-year-old Isabella shared how she saw the lobster in the book and remembered the lobster tank at the grocery store. She was using her experience grocery shopping to help inform how she moved along with the music. I watched Isabella’s mother, Imani, swell with pride at her daughter’s creativity and playfulness.  

The women and children I taught in these classes in the home for unhoused mothers came from some of the most challenging backgrounds, escaping physical and sexual violence, drug use, and homelessness. Many of the young mothers were unsure how to bond and interact with their little ones, but over time and within the broader program and through the services they received, I observed them blossom as loving, connected mothers. They began to believe in their right to a happy life, and they began to pass that belief on to their children. Mothers talked about dancing more with their children and singing songs from class at home. A couple of the mothers talked about finding books that they could use to spark conversations with their children after doing book activities in music class. 

What’s Next for My Teaching? 

Working with the families at this home has been full of lovely memories, like watching Adrianne and Olivia, and of challenging moments too. In my journey to continue improving my trauma-informed music teaching, I have learned a few key things that not only relate to the children and families I shared about in this story, but also my music students at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.  

My mission is to continue to provide opportunities for every child to develop and live a happy, healthy life, and I believe uniting the power of music and books can do just that. The three goals I shared earlier inform my mission, and I believe what I have learned through Smart Start has made me more effective in achieving my mission. I will continue to learn more effective ways to connect musical concepts to books and how these connections lead to much deeper learning and cognitive development. I will also continue to practice creating opportunities for connections between children and their family members, drawing them together and giving them a sense of belonging, empowerment, and value. 

Photograph © Getty Images
Copyright © 2024 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.

References

Confino, D., M. Einav, & M. Margalit. 2023. “Post-Traumatic Growth: The Roles of the Sense of Entitlement, Gratitude and Hope.” International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology 8: 453–65. 

Hope, M.A. 2012. “The Importance of Belonging: Learning from the Student Experience of Democratic Education.” Journal of School Leadership 22 (4): 733–50.  

Hutchins, S. 2018. “Early Childhood Music Training and Associated Improvements in Music and Language Abilities.” Music Perception 35 (5): 579–93. 

Khalfa, S. 2003. “Effects of Relaxing Music on Salivary Cortisol Level after Psychological Stress.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 999 (1): 374–76. 

Marsac M.L., K.A. Donlon, F.K. Winston, & N. Kassam-Adams. 2013. “Child Coping, Parent Coping Assistance, and Post-Traumatic Stress Following Paediatric Physical Injury.” Child: Care, Health and Development 39 (2): 171–77.  

McFarlane, A.C. 2010. “The Long-Term Costs of Traumatic Stress: Intertwined Physical and Psychological Consequences.” World Psychiatry 9 (1): 3–10.   

Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. 2023. under “empowerment.”  

van der Kolk, B. 2014. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.