'Stay at Home:' Raleigh preschool teacher's song for her students hits home

Marty Long, a Raleigh preschool teacher and local musician, was missing her students when she pulled together a song this week to help them better understand the scary world around them as many of us hunker down during the coronavirus pandemic.

"When I left my Raleigh School friends last week, I didn't know it would be the last time I would see them before we all stayed home awhile," Long tells me. "I wanted to send them something that could hopefully help them process and also help them know that I'm still with them. After I sent it out, one of the moms wrote back that she wished all children could hear it. So last night, I decided to put it out there for any child who might need it."

For young children, music is an especially helpful way for them to come to terms and understand their own feelings, Long said.

"Children have all the same big feelings that we do, but don't often know what to do with them," she tells me. "Music gives kids a way to release what might be uncomfortable or scary feelings. For example, one of my preschoolers' favorite songs we sing together is 'Scarborough Fair.' They connect with the beautiful melody, and they also connect wit the sorrowful and longing mood. It's a safe way for them to practice feeling those emotions, and it's also reassurance that someone else feels them too — after all, they see me, as their teacher, singing the song and modeling for them that it is safe to be sad sometimes."

It's a message we could all use these days.