Lived experiences of first-time caregivers in early childhood music classes

While scholars are interested in parent perspectives on early childhood (EC) music education, the perspectives of first-time attendees and non-maternal caregivers are relatively unexamined. Using phenomenology as both a method and a theoretical frame, we followed ten caregivers (three fathers and seven mothers) as they engaged in their first experience accompanying their children to play-based, child-led EC music classes. Through analysis of pre- and post-interviews, biweekly e-mail check-ins, memos and field notes from observations, we distilled four essences of first-time experience: being family, fitting in, engaging with others and having fun. In this article, we describe each essence and offer interpretation through our lens as mothers, scholars and EC teachers.