Baby Daughter Entranced by Dad Singing Country Song ‘I’m Moving On,’ and Her Response Goes Viral

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A family video in which a country music-loving father sings sweetly to his baby girl has captured the hearts of millions. But it’s not just Dad’s crooning that people are falling for; it’s his baby girl’s absolutely adorable response.

In the video, Dad holds his baby girl under her arms to support her weight while seizing her attention with a sweet song, to which he knows all the words by heart. Dad sings a song by country music outfit Rascal Flatts titled “I’m Moving On,” a song about a lost love—but you wouldn’t know it from the enraptured gaze of the baby girl’s face.

As her father sings, the baby girl wriggles and coos, moves her arms, and imitates his facial expressions—and sounds! A few lines in, the baby girl even seems to be imitating her father’s singing by making her own little noises along with the music.

Dad, delighted by her response, encourages his daughter by singing the lyrics with heartfelt emotion:

“For once I’m at peace with myself

“I’ve been burdened with blame, trapped in the past for too long,

“I’m moving on.” Dad keeps eye contact with his baby daughter throughout the entire song, and she reciprocates. The baby’s mother, stay-at-home mom Danielle Johnson Jones, posted the sweet “duet” on Facebook in 2018, where it has since been viewed over 13.3 million times.

Have a watch for yourself:

“Daddy and baby girl love to sing together,” Danielle captioned the video, adding: “He’s going to kill me for posting this!”

Friends, family, and fans from all over the world posted messages of love and appreciation for the heartwarming video clip. “How precious, what a treasured memory for her,” wrote one person.

One viewer offered a funny anecdote of their own. “That is awesome; my granddaughter cries if I sing to her,” they said. “I couldn’t carry a tune with two suitcases, lol [it’s] not funny just true.”

In the vast majority, messages commented on the bond between father and daughter. “So much love going on here,” read one comment, “this is what life is about, take notes!”

Research compiled at UC Berkeley suggests that music is critical to the emotional and social development of babies and young children. Sandra Trehub, a researcher at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, has found that singing calms babies, helps with language fluency, and can even lead to stronger social bonds with parents.

“Babies recognize the voice much, much earlier than they recognize a mother’s face,” Trehub explained to Berkeley’s Greater Good Magazine. “Voice is a very powerful stimulus for an infant.

“Music has a lot of regularity in it. You have notes and musical phrases that repeat, so that you can become captivated, almost hypnotized by it,” Trehub continued. “Even in the newborn period, infants show responsiveness to singing.”

This response is powerful; it can help babies to regulate their emotions and focus their attention, which could have very positive outcomes when the babies become children and start school.

In short, singing is sensational. “I wouldn’t ever tell anyone they have to sing; but people should do what gives them pleasure and share that with their baby,” Trehub advised, adding: “It’s not always what you do; it’s more the spirit in which you do it.”

As this heartwarming video clip exemplifies, a song shared between a doting dad and his enraptured baby daughter also has the power to move millions.