Personalized Song for a Tween Who Is Over Kid Songs

What "no baby sounds" means at ten

The fastest way to lose a ten-year-old is a song that sounds like it was made for their little brother. From 8 to 12, the style is pop, hip-hop or rock: a real beat, a hook they can't shake, and verses that tell a story the way the songs on their own playlist do.

Tell us which of the three sounds most like them. Pop suits the kid who sings in the shower and knows every word on the car radio. Hip-hop suits the kid who memorizes verses and cares about the beat. Rock suits the kid with a guitar in the corner, or one who plays drums on the dashboard at red lights.

Not sure which? Notice what they put on when they control the speaker, not what plays in the car when you do. That's the honest answer.

Say your son, we'll call him Marcus, is ten, plays point guard on a rec team and raps along to everything in the car. Hip-hop is his. A verse about his crossover and the coach who calls him Professor will land better with him than three lines about how proud you are. Save one line for that.

Find out what they're into, without giving it away

A ten-year-old's interests change by the month, and they notice when you ask too many questions at once. Spread these over a week, in the car or at dinner, where questions feel normal:

• "What's the best song right now, the one you'd play for your friends?"
• "If you could be famous for one thing, what would it be?"
• "Who's the funniest kid in your class, and what did they do this week?"
• "What's the hardest thing you've gotten good at this year?"
• "What did you and your best friend do at recess today?"
• "What's something grown-ups always get wrong about you?"
• "What do you want people to call you these days?"

Write the answers down the same night, in their words. A phrase they use, like calling their bike "the beast" or their team "the squad", is worth more in a song than a paragraph of your own description.

How to keep it cool

A tween song lives or dies on details they'd be happy for a friend to hear. Run your notes through this checklist before you start:

• Use the name they go by now. If Benjamin became Ben this year, the song says Ben. Baby nicknames stay out unless they still answer to them with a straight face.
• Brag about skills, not cuteness. The goal they scored, the level they finally beat, the kickflip they landed after a month of scraped knees.
• Skip the baby stories. The time they ate sand at the beach is a story for you, not for them.
• Keep the mushy part to one line. One honest line about being proud of them can land. A whole verse of it earns an eye-roll.
• Check the inside jokes. A joke that's hilarious at the dinner table can be the one thing they'd hate a friend to hear. If they wouldn't repeat it to their best friend, leave it out.
• Keep the details current. If they quit dance in the spring, the song shouldn't mention dance.
• Let them decide who hears it. Whether it goes to a sleepover, a team party or a friend's phone is their call.

Game day and best friends: the bonus songs

Every kids song comes with two bonus songs. You can pick them or let us pick for their age, and from 5 to 12 that means game day, best friends or a chill goodnight song. For a busy tween, the first two fit the week.

Game day is for the drive to practice, the walk from the parking lot to the field, the bus to the away game. Tell us the sport, their position or event, the number on their jersey and what the team yells before tip-off or kickoff.

Best friends is the one they'll want to send to a friend. Say your daughter, we'll call her Jade, is eleven and has had the same best friend since first grade. Tell us the friend's first name, their inside joke and the place they always end up, like the trampoline in Jade's backyard. It's a song two kids can play at a sleepover without anyone feeling silly.

The chill goodnight song is the third option, for the kid who still likes a song at the end of the day but would never call it a lullaby.

Handing it over without the big reveal

Skip the surprise in front of the whole family. Many tweens would rather hear something about themselves alone first, then decide how they feel about it.

Try it in the car, just the two of you, and keep the setup low-key: "I had a song made about you. It's pretty good. Want to hear it?" Then drive, and try not to watch their face too obviously.

If they have their own phone, you can send it there instead with one line: "Made this for you. No pressure."

Then leave it alone. If they play it twice on their own that week, or ask for the game day song before practice, you have your answer.

Make a song they'll put on themselves

Once you have their genre, the name they go by and a week of answers from the car, start their song. We write their song from your answers.

If they want a line changed, and at this age they might, there are unlimited revisions until it's perfect. And if it misses anyway, there's a 100% money-back guarantee. If there's a younger sibling too, see songs for kids from newborn to 12.