I'm not going! You don't understand me! I'm not going! Can you hear my words? I'm not going!

That's basically all we heard for the two weeks leading up to the elementary school vocal music concert. This is where the K-3rd graders get up on risers, at a middle school auditorium, and sing their little hearts out. Or, that's the idea.

David's class has been working on their songs since September, and they were good songs: You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog and Jail House Rock. We'd catch him humming snippets of them sometimes, and he decided he liked Elvis almost as much as Macklemore, but full throated singing was not happening in our house. So, really, we had no idea if he knew his songs.

We did know he was very scared about performing. This is not a shock to us. David is shy. But we believe performing in public and doing things you are afraid of are both life skills. So we made him go.

And he did great. In kindergarten David just got up on stage. I don't think he opened his mouth. In first grade, I saw his mouth move, but no sound came out. This year he sang, he sang every word, and those songs are full of words. He even did the hand gestures. He was so thrilled after it was over that he sang the entire Jail House Rock for us on the way home.

Dealing with David's resistance was not fun, but I'm hoping he tucks this triumph into his tool chest and next time adds a few dance moves too.