Meet The Mom – “Miss Tracie”

Name: Tracie Krieger AKA “Miss Tracie”

Where did you grow up: Cleveland, Ohio

Town you live in now: We live in Mirabella in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Why you love living there:

I love Palm Beach Gardens because “home is where the heart is” and I raised children here, I’ve developed incredibly meaningful friendships here and I’ve grown a beautiful small business and community of Music Together young families that complete my life. It’s the sunshine of Palm Beach Gardens that has provided me the warmth and nourishment to thrive! I’m so grateful!

Tell me about your kids:

They are teenagers. Enough said!
Charlotte is a junior at Dreyfoos School of the Arts and is leaving in August for boarding school at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan to pursue more training in musical theater. AJ is 13 and attends the Meyer Prep School. He plays travel basketball and rec basketball and school basketball and just a whole lotta basketball! Ben is almost 16 and is a sophomore at Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Ben is a singer/songwriter (and a John Mayer lookalike!) with a professional theater background (www.benkriegeractor.com) He now plays local gigs – Grandview Market, local parties, Elizabeth Avenue and more. We don’t mess around over here – we have a hobby and we GO FOR IT! And there’s also labradoodle Buster. Woof!

Favorite things to do with the kids locally: Lately, we ride bikes through the new Alton community, take the dog to sit outside at CG Burgers or Christopher’s Kitchen, eat sushi at Sushi Yama or Moon Thai or Kabuki, we bake a LOT, we play boardgames and I simply just try to get them (teenagers!) to talk to me! And yes, a lot of singing together!

What’s your ‘day job’? How did you get started with it?

I run Tracie’s Music Together LLC. (www.traciesmusictogether.com. Also on FB and Insta!) My teachers and I lead ‘mommy-and-me’ style music & movement classes for ages 0 – 3 in Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Tequesta, Wellington and recently also on the island of Palm Beach at the new Rec Center! Our classes are SO much fun AND educational! Music Together can be found all over the world – it’s a community of early childhood enthusiasts bringing MUSIC back to families. The company is based on Princeton, New Jersey… we have around 250 families enrolled each semester and EVERYONE looooooves it!!! I fell in love with the program when I was a mom bringing my own daughter. I had a big job for Cosmopolitan magazine at the time but wanted to spend time with daughter Charlotte. I raised my hand and said ‘how do you do THIS for a job?’ That was 15 years ago and I’ve never looked back.

What is your best parenting advise. Lay it on us.

Now that I have all teenagers, I really do love looking back and giving “hindsight is 20/20” advice. My top THREE things:

1. There is no ‘bad’ child! These little humans just came into the world.. they don’t know things YET. Remember that the word ‘discipline’ means ‘train, learn,teach’ in Latin. If they scream and run inside Publix after you told them not to, they aren’t being “bad”! They are just being children and it will take a few tries to figure their stuff out! Be patient, be consistent and don’t yell NO at them. If you yell NO all the time, the only thing you’re teaching them is to YELL NO

2. Don’t try to control them! Learn who they are, their personality types, then support them and love them and WATCH the magic happen as they grow into themselves. You can’t MAKE them be anything they aren’t – not if you also care about their long term happiness and mental health. Set limits, guide them, talk to them, LISTEN to them, but the let it go!

3.My best “hindsight is 20/20” advice is to LET THEM STRUGGLE. Period. End of story. DO NOT SAVE THEM. Let them struggle. My first therapist told me, “Tracie, when they’re whining, SIT ON YOUR HANDS”. Metaphorically and physically, this works. Sit on your hands! Don’t save them!

LASTLY, Life-changing books are: Anything by Becky Bailey, anything by Lisa Damour, Untamed by Glennon Doyle and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F!#!@ By Mark Mason.”

Oh and one more advice thing: what goes in is what comes out! So if you’re always angry and stressed, think about that. If you’re kind and happy and loving, think about THAT! What goes in is what comes out!

What do you do for self care?

Netflix. ALSO, A few deep breaths at the beach: I drive there, park, breathe in and out for a few minutes and then go home. It works! I recently divorced, so I believe in really embracing who you are at your core, a great therapist (try Susan Tinsley in Jupiter!), good self help books and quality time with your “village”! I’m an incredibly happy woman due to ALL of those things!

Anything else you want to share?

Some people laugh when I say “I teach baby music classes” . They don’t understand how a baby can take a music “class”! But music is a LANGUAGE… and just like every other language, babies learn music just by being around it – in a nonformal, engaging, consistent way! By having their moms/dads/caregivers ‘speak’ this language to them, they learn it. And WE help this happen in our classes – and we are GOOD AT IT!! Truly! Also, children under the age of five learn everything THROUGH PLAY. So that’s what we do in OUR classes: we play with music …with the people that we love …and it totally works! I invite anyone to come try one of my beautiful music classes ANYTIME! Come see what it’s all about! Music feels good and we make sure it’s part of your lives!