Mama Nous writes youngsters’s lullabies and easy songs that acknowledge common emotional truths and assist individuals course of their emotions. Children love them, however so do adults.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
We study sure emotional truths via expertise. We may be scared, however nonetheless be OK. We are able to construct resilience. We are able to let go of issues. These classes can take a lifetime to study. However what if we may study them at age 3 in a lullaby? One songwriter is creating music identical to this, and, as Deena Prichep reviews, it is not simply youngsters who’re listening.
DEENA PRICHEP, BYLINE: Michelle Barrow had her twins through the top of the pandemic, and as quickly as they had been born, she began singing to them.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MY BODY IS MY HOME”)
MICHELLE BARROW: (As Mama Nous, singing) My physique is an effective physique, and it is the one one I am going to ever know. So I deal with it like a pal as a result of my physique is my house.
PRICHEP: Barrow began posting these songs on TikTok and Instagram underneath the title Mama Nous. That is N-O-U-S, just like the French phrase for us. The melodies are candy and easy, however the concepts are fairly large.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BULLY BRAIN”)
BARROW: (As Mama Nous, singing) Generally my mind’s a bully. Generally it says actually imply issues. Generally about myself, generally someone else, however my mind do not know every little thing.
Clearly, it’s important to watch out to border your message in a means that makes it obtainable and acceptable for teenagers. However they will actually deal with some actually large matters, and so they wish to be speaking about and exploring actually large matters.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BULLY BRAIN”)
BARROW: (As Mama Nous, singing) I’m not my ideas, and I select to take heed to my coronary heart.
PRICHEP: Barrow information out of her house studio and has by no means given a Mama Nous live performance, until you depend her youngsters’ preschool, however she’s reached thousands and thousands via social media. Signe Hawley Murray’s household listens to Mama Nous songs each morning.
SIGNE HAWLEY MURRAY: The one which acquired us hooked was “Worrying Has By no means Modified A Factor.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WORRYING HAS NEVER CHANGED A THING”)
BARROW: (As Mama Nous, singing) Worrying has by no means modified a factor. And so all that I can do is attempt to convey a way of regular calm until I do know what is going on on, ‘trigger worrying has by no means modified a factor.
PRICHEP: Hawley Murray says it is given their 6-year-old the language to grasp emotions about large modifications, like beginning kindergarten. That helps her regulate not solely herself, however the entire household.
HAWLEY MURRAY: My daughter one time, like, stopped me within the automobile and was like, Mama – in fact I used to be, like, speeding out the door – and was like, Mama, worrying and speeding is not going to alter a factor. And I rotated and I began laughing, ‘trigger I used to be like, oh, my gosh, it is so true.
PRICHEP: Mama Nous’ posts do not simply resonate with youngsters. They’re stuffed with feedback from adults who discuss how a lot these youngsters’s songs have helped them course of their very own feelings.
JEFF CERIA: What I used to be taught was to stuff it down – you understand, to disregard it or to only recover from.
PRICHEP: Jeff Ceria would not even have younger youngsters, however he says listening to these songs has helped him sort of reparent himself.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHISPERING HEART”)
BARROW: (As Mama Nous, singing) At midnight, you’ll be able to take heed to your whispering coronary heart. Shut your eyes, take note of your physique.
Sooner or later, we hit a sure age the place we resolve that we had been – are purported to have all of it found out. And I simply do not ever assume that that is true. I feel we’re all fumbling and figuring it out as we go alongside.
PRICHEP: By Mama Nous, Michelle Barrow hopes that listening to these messages, particularly sung to a catchy tune, can assist individuals determine issues out and develop as much as be their greatest, loving selves at any age.
For NPR Information, I am Deena Prichep.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BULLY BRAIN”)
BARROW: (As Mama Nous, singing) Generally my mind’s a bully. Generally it says actually imply issues. Generally about myself, generally someone else, however…
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its ultimate type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might differ. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
