I have long tortured my children through song. Sometimes it's strictly an embarrassment thing, like when I sing very loud and do my very best John-Travolta-disco-dance while in the car with them. This worked best while dropping them off at school.
With my son, he mostly brings the torture on himself by refusing to get out of bed in the morning. Then I start singing at the top of my lungs:
Oh, there once was a boy!
And he wouldnt' get out of bed!
Til his mom came along!
And she bopped him on the head!
If the first verse doesn't work, I make up more, until he drags his sorry behind out of bed just to stop the pain of it all.
My daughter is different. Girls can be moody. Sometimes when the evil face gets cemented to the front of her head, I find it necessary to remove it by force of lyrics:
Oh, there once was a girl!
And she had an angry face!
She made everyone afraid!
In every single place!
You may notice a similarity in the tunes and structure. Eventually, I can get a smile out of her, but it usually takes a couple verses.
But then one day!
The face cracked apart!
And the girl's head was blank!
And her voice was like a fart!
When they were very small, they thought these songs were awesome. And the fact that I could go on for four or five verses amazed them both. Giggles were guaranteed. Now, there are more likely to be eyes rolled.
And I like to ask, "Can you see your brains when you do that?"
