Bigger...hymns..

[vjj4]

Okay, I am about to give up on the hymns. We are just in week two of Bigger, and my ds (age is not at ALL interested in the hymns. We are on "Holy, Holy, Holy", which is one of MY favorites, and he is completely less than interested! He doesn't even want to pretend to listen, let alone sing, if ANYONE else is home. I did finally get him to sing with me yesterday when no one else was here, but it was less than pleasant and I don't need that kind of stress! He has a really good voice and sings right on key, but he is not a happy camper. This is not a hill I'm willing to die on, so do I try to find another type of contemporary christian music that may appeal to him more to substitute, or skip this altogether for a while? Any ideas? Anyone else have issues with this? Just so you know, this would not be a problem if we were doing "country" music. He said, "why can't we do Jason Aldean or somebody like that".

Thanks!

[GinainMD]

I am so looking forward to doing this with my girls. Maybe you could just have him listen with no expectation for a while. Songs have a way of attaching themselves to you after a while. I think he will greatly benefit just from hearing the songs. Not sure of the official answer. This is only what I would do in this circumstance.

[blessedmomof4]

Personally I wouldn't give up. It took my dd's time to warm up to the hymns. They just love really contemporary stuff. I kind of reminded them that the hymns were contemporary in their day, and that we have a rich history of faith in the hymn writers. Have you been reading him the stories that are found before each hymn? They are scheduled in the guide, but my eyes missed them at first The stories bring to life how God inspired each hymn writer and how we can be blessed by these hymns of our Christian heritage today.

[Heart_Mom]

I think it would be reasonable to just sing them for him each day, with no expectations. He might surprise you after a while and join in! If you wanted to shorten it up a little, you could just sing one verse each day (even if verses from previous units are scheduled). There's just such rich theology in those hymns, it would be sad to skip them!!!

[netpea]

I believe that these are great hymns of faith and my kids should know them and be able to sing them so when they hear them at church it means something to them. I expect them to sing and because it's scheduled in the guide, they do. If it weren't scheduled they probably wouldn't.

[acts29stl]

We did Bigger last year and my boy was definately more shy about singing outloud than my daughter, so it could be a boy thing I wouldn't skip them but also don't put much pressure on him to sing them. Maybe you can have him listen to it on his own and tell him to sing it outloud to himself? Than by the end of the hymn he is expected to sing the whole thing to you. If he does it well the first time, than you won't require him to sing it again for you! But if not, he'll have to do it again Since it's the beginning of the school year, you can set the tone and criteria for the rest of the year. I have already had to explain to my ds6 that there will be things about school that he LOVES and then things he doesn't, but all should be done with a and no complaining My ds enjoyed the independence of listening to the hymn on his own and would do great when it was time to do the "public" singing. I also played it a couple of times throughout the day - once when they were eating lunch and maybe once when it was snack time or a down time. It just sort of gets stuck in your head then

[gotpeace91]

I wouldn't give up on them altogether. I like the previous poster's idea to have him sing it to himself. Or you could even have him just listen to it everyday and then on the last day of that particular hymn (just before they switch to another one) have him sing along with it for you. There is so much good theology and beautiful words in the hymns that I couldn't bring myself to skip them. My 13yo son hates to sing as well and he has a great voice and talent for pitch. I'll be watching this thread for ideas to help my shy singer open up too.

[vjj4]

Sorry, I was just frustrated I guess. No, we won't give up, although I may be doing all the singing by myself, lol. Yes, I do read the pages before the songs to him. Thanks for the encouragement. I think I'll have him listen through the week and have a "solo", just him and me, on Fridays - do it once and you're done, otherwise we sing it until .....I will keep watching this post though. Thanks again.

[Carrie]

The ladies have done a terrific job of encouraging you to keep going with the hymns! I agree that the theology and stories behind the hymns are inspiring and such a testament to the faith of the writer. I'd hate to have your son miss out on knowing these wonderful hymns. Plus, we've found no more beautiful orchestration combined with singable voices than the ones in the Hymns for a Kids' Heart series.

With that in mind, a few things that have helped my boys sing along are for all us to sing the hymn together. I'm not sure if you have other children, but we had all of our kiddos (and me included) sing the hymn right before we ate lunch each day. I photocopied the hymn for the week and gave everyone a copy to sing along. I played the music VERY LOUDLY so that you almost could not hear my kiddos' voices. Then, we all sang together around the kitchen table. If they weren't singing or weren't singing joyously, we paused the music and began again (thus delaying lunch). A few times, we restarted 4 or 5 times in one day. The boys got the picture pretty quickly that if you want to eat, you sing first. Over time the habit of singing joyously and loudly actually transferred to true joy in singing. It took time, but my kids love and remember these hymns even today when they come up in church. They all look at each other and just sing their hearts out.

If you don't have other kiddos to join in the singing, you could instead do it before the evening meal and get dad involved in the singing. When my husband sings with the boys, they really join in. There is just something about singing in a group that makes you feel less intimidated as you sing.

Anyway, hope this helps!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Tree House Academy]

This hymns are one of our favorite times of the school day. My almost 8 year old son sings as loud as he possibly can (LOL). However, there was a time when he didn't sing along...back in Little Hearts when we first started the Bible Verse songs. I didn't push him to sing then - I just sang the songs myself. Sometimes, he even sat in my lap and put his head on my shoulder as I sang. It was special time together. I remember the day he said, "momma...I want to sing with you." My heart leaped for joy and he has been singing with me ever since.

Give your ds time. Even if he never sings, he will hear the songs and know the words. The message is the most important part anyway.

[vjj4]

Thanks, everyone. We're hanging in there!

[Mom of Three]

You could play the cd in the car. Look for different arrangements on Itunes. There are a lot of hymns recorded by country artists. I have a fabulous version of Holy Holy Holy recorded by a celtic group. It's faster and cheerier. Sometimes stately music doesn't fit at home.

I haven't done Bigger, so I don't know the routine, but we sing in the car, we sing while we do dishes, and I play music when we do exercises. When we did Hide Em in Your Heart the kids always danced while we listened. I never required them to sing if they didn't want to. Singing is very personal, it can feel like a performance, and I would be uncomfortable if someone told me I HAD to sing, so I won't do that to my kids.

If you play the music, he will learn it whether he wants to or not.