TRP
Well, I was 9 years old and the only kid singing in the choir at St Mary's. It was a mother/daughter thing... she sang constantly, so I did, too.****I idolized Karen Carpenter so I styled my voice after hers. I can do a decent imitation, but I can't sustain it perfectly for very long.
All my kids are musically inclined to some degree (I have a piano that I let them explore from the time they can reach the keys) but my middle child is exceptional. A family friend is a well-known voice teacher (she trained Nick Carter from The Backstreet Boys, among others) who I will probably send her to in a few years. She has been composing her own songs (she writes them down on staff paper) since she was 3 or 4.***When she was 2 years old, I was strolling her and she was singing The Lover's Concerto and this lady stopped me and said, My God, she's going to be famous one day!
I'm really not surprised... on my side, my mother is very talented musically, and on Mr Isla's his dad is a classical musician (bassoon) and the executive director of a very large orchestra.
Generally speaking, I think the earlier a kid starts, the better, but it's never too late if you love music.