A summer's day by the seaside in a beautiful art gallery, thinking and talking about lullabies and singing with babies is a lovely way to spend some time.So I was delighted to attend the 6th annual Baby Room Conference run by Kathy Goouch and Sacha Powell of Canterbury Christ Church University. Their events always include some fascinating speakers, sometimes from abroad, and the chance to meet lots of people who care deeply about our youngest children.
This year's theme of Babysong chimes well with much of Nursery World's recent coverage, including our under-threes special. And one aspect in particular comes through. Julian Grenier's article 'Let me be', in which he spoke of the pitfalls of constantly striving for an upbeat atmosphere where children 'show me a smile', got a huge reaction (see Letters, opposite). And Vanessa Young's article 'Be still' on the Babysong project she presented at the conference, talked about the pressure that practitioners feel to 'jolly up' babies and 'keep busy' all the time.
Dr Carmel Brennan of Early Childhood Ireland also gave a session on her Lullaby Project where she spoke of the need to 'slow down' when working with babies, 'to look for and wallow in the beautiful'.
Lullabies and songs have such power to soothe and entrance, and music is so vital to human development, yet it is so easy to overlook all this in the hubbub of an early years environment.
Vanessa gave conference attendees a first-hand experience of the joy of singing, teaching us all a short song and leading us through the Grayson Perry exhibition at the Turner Contemporary in Margate singing to a surprised (and mostly delighted) public.
It's the kind of experience we all need more of.