Mother's Day songs

Our Primary sings in sacrament every Mother's Day. Sometimes, it's difficult to find time to learn a new song in time for the program. So, I've made up some Mother's Day songs using tunes that the children already know. You'll see with "Stand for the Right" that I also deliberately stuck with similar words to the original song. These words can be swapped out for Father's Day as well. Although, I'll share some other versions in May for Father's Day.

Enjoy -

Esther

To the tune of “Stand for the Right” on page 159 of the Children’s Songbook

Verse 1

My mother is honest and faithful and true,

It seems that she always knows just what to do,

At work or at play, In darkness or light,

She teaches me always to cho-ose the right.

Verse 2

She makes me feel happy when I feel so blue,

I want to be like her when I’m grown up, too,

At work or at play, In darkness or light,

She teaches me always to cho-ose the right.

To the tune of Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam on page 60 of the Children’s Songbook

Mother is kind and so lo-ving,

She shows her love each day,

I want to be just like Mother,

In all I do and say.

Chorus:

Like Mo-ther! Like Mo-ther!

I want to be just like Mo-ther!

I’ll fol-low, her examp-le,

I’ll be like Mother today!

Singing Time tip: don't be afraid to repeat!

I attended a stake primary training when I was a fairly new chorister. At the time, the stake Primary chorister reminded us not to be afraid to repeat activities, that the children liked some degree of repetition. I love to create new things and come up with fun ideas so my version of repeating things ended up being two or three times a year at most of some of my most successful singing time activities.

We have a new chorister this year who is balancing her schedule with three children under the age of six, including a baby. She is not afraid to repeat and it has been so fun to see how well the children are learning the songs and enjoying the repetition.

In January, she mostly focused on a "right door" vs "wrong door" activity where there was a right way to sing the song and a wrong way to see the song. It was so fun to see the children get excited to pick a door week after week, as she moved from the first verse to the second verse but stayed on the same activity.

In February, she brought in finger lights and turned off the lights while we sang. The kids were so excited the second week when they realized she was bringing the lights back again.

Of course, choristers need to balance repetition with what's working with their primary but for choristers that are overwhelmed or short on time, it's a nice reminder that sometimes, the most effective way to teach a song and still give the children a memorable, fun experience is to do what you did the week before!

Fun Tip:
One of my favorite ways to "repeat" during singing time was to have the children stand in four corners of the room with their class and teachers. We would go through the song line by line, with each corner of the room singing just that line. It created a fun echo effect and was a really quick but interesting way to learn a song quickly if we were having any trouble spots. Children have such quick minds and memorize so easily!