Many people think that their lack of musical ear is due to heredity as nobody in the family had talent for music. They are not wrong but not right either.
If you are one of those who wish to sing but cannot if people are around, you are not alone. Deep down you think you are a musical child who will one day blossom under the right music teacher, but your dream just remains a dream.
Then you marry and have a child and you think, "Maybe my child will have a talent for music. Maybe some ancestor of ours had a musical ear and could play an instrument!" But your child becomes an adult and doesn't even look at any instrument. "Just my luck!" you lament.
Meanwhile you keep hearing from the media how music helps develop children and makes them smarter, and how a musical child has 40 percent more IQ than regular children! Why not your or your child?
Now this might come as a surprise to you, but every newborn that does not have hearing impediments can turn into a great singer, musician or composer. You might exclaim, "How is that possible? How can I turn my kid into a great performer if I don't understand a thing of musical education?"
Relax, you need not have all the information at the beginning. If you just create an atmosphere conducive to music at home, it is enough.
You can simply start by playing music daily at home. Listen to anything you like, but start as soon as you (or your wife) get pregnant. When your baby is born, give him a lot of toys that make musical sounds. The purpose is to expose him to melodious music right from the beginning and make him a musical child.
The more your child listens to music, the faster he learns it and accumulates musical impressions that will one day give him great musical abilities like sense of rhythm.
Just like no child can start speaking sentences directly without first speaking syllables and words, similarly no child can develop a musical ear all of a sudden without first accumulating the auditory impressions!
Don't believe stories that claim that a musical child gets his talent through genes. You can't inherit talent, you need to develop it! And every child who is not born deaf has this opportunity to become an excellent musician.
An advice for you before I conclude: If you don't have a musical ear, which means you cannot sing in tune, please don't sing in the presence of your child. Never!