As a person who has worked in daycare for several years, I have seen my fair share of adorable children. And when I wasn’t sneaking baby selfies with them before naptime or combing mac and cheese out of their hair, I was also extensively studying their learning patterns. I told everyone that this was for a thesis project, but the reality of the matter is that someday I'm going to have seven children and assemble them into a modern day version of the Von Trapp family, and I need to know how to most effectively teach them several hundred choreographed musical numbers in the least amount of time possible (i.e., while they’re still small and cute.)
There are plenty of strategies that I've seen teachers and parents use, and some are more effective than others. There's good old-fashioned bribery, for instance, but that can only get you so far in the long run. There’s the even less effective threatening tactic: “If you don’t do what I say, we’re not going to the Wiggles concert.”
Positive reinforcement is always a great tactic if the kid actually gets it right in the first place. Otherwise the tried-and-true method is “repeat after me” – after all, kids learn by watching their parents. Well, at least most kids do.
Enter Lola, the world’s most adorable person who defies every single one of those odds.
"One day we went to the zoo," her dad sings.
Now, Lola has one job. One job. She is supposed to stand in front of the camera and repeat, "To the zoo!"
But if that actually happened, then we wouldn't have over a minute of ridiculous parenting shenanigans as her (incredibly patient) father attempts to teach her this song.
"Are you gonna get it right this time?" he asks her at one point.
"Yes!" she says, only to proudly yell "WE WENT TO THE ZOO!" incorrectly for the umpteenth time.
Watch the prolific drama of their fictional trip to the zoo unfold here:
See, everyone? This is exactly why the even the world's most adorable singers need rehearsal.
