My 5-year-old daughter, Riley, is finally rockin' to real music. And whattaya know? It's Daughtry...I'd say I'm a good influence. Of course, she still loves the occasional Laurie Berkner tune, but she'd just as soon grab her guitar, put on her headset and rock out with the Daughtry boys ...

Know what's even better? That she can actually HEAR the music. Riley was born deaf (blame her parents--we're both carriers of a "defective" gene. We got together, created Riley and she got the "I-can't-hear" gene.) Thanks to the modern miracle of cochlear implants, she can hear, sing, talk just like a "normal" 5-year-old. And, boy, does she love to talk and sing and dance. She still has a little catching up to do, but she's right on target.

You know, singing to your child is good for brain, language and speech development. So I just call my singing along with Daughtry therapy for her. Soon she'll be singing all the words with me and begging to go to a show.

Peace, love & rock'n'roll,
Tiff