While it may be overlooked most of the time, music and singing are a crucial part of our culture, and it affects our lives in various ways, whether we want to or not. We encounter music in various spheres in our life, like on TV, movies, video games, celebrations, religion, sports, and even in governmental ceremonies, simply said there is no way to runway from it. However, for children, it is even more of an importance, because even before birth it is known that the music listened by parents affects the child, after birth lullabies and relaxing music is played in most houses to soothe the child, and on top of that it is a way to express joy and love. In my opinion, every parent should take advantage of those natural instincts to educate and help the development of your child in various ways, such as social and emotional skills that will be crucial in the future.
Benefits of Music
First of all, I have to say that music activates all areas of child development on the way or the other. When I say all, I literally mean it, because intellectual, social, emotional, motor, language, and literacy skills all develop during the music. As a start, you should know that it helps the coordination of the body and mind, and helps them work better together since it is a natural instinct to move our bodies to the rhythm. Dancing will help build up your child’s motor skills and also it helps them express themselves while doing it. Music and songs will also help children learn the meaning of words and help them put it all together. Overlook all these and music is still one of the best and most popular art forms in the 21st century and it is extremely entertaining.
Social Development
In kindergartens or preschools, all teachers use music as an educational and social development tool. For example, music-making exercise teaches us social dynamics, while still maintaining a fun and nice learning experience. Grouping children together to make music, will also teach them to work as a team properly, in a way that is fun for everybody and while still creating something of value. Most importantly music will teach children that they can create great things if they manage to work together properly, while everybody is doing its part. On top of all this, this can also help them learn cooperation, sharing, compromise, conce\ntration and most importantly creativity. These skills will help your child advance sociality in the long run and will prove to be invaluable.
Emotional Development
Learning children’s songs will challenge your children to learn some interesting but very crucial skills like impulse and self-control. Common exercise teachers use is to take an already known song that a child can sing and ask your child to leave one of the words from the lyrics out of the song. This will teach your children the aforementioned skills and on top of that, it will also be an extremely fun activity.
Leadership skills and confidence are also vastly improved with music, and you can allow your child to do better with some simple exercises. For example, you can ask your child to lead you through a song, this is better if your child takes a song that he/she learned in school and tries to teach it to you. Also make sure to follow the lead at all times, whether or not the lyrics or melody are right or not. It is a great way for children to progress their leadership skills and boost confidence.
One of the most important parts of the musical emotional development is the development of empathy. This mostly works in environments where children are working in groups and they watch other children for subtle cues, such as volume, timing, and expressiveness to create music. However, not many of us know that these are the same cues that we use to understand each other’s feelings, and being able to percept and understand is the base for empathy and moral development.
More Activities
Another great thing you can introduce your baby to is hiking. The mountains are beautiful, and they will get the sense of what the real world looks like. You can make hiking with your baby easier by buying the best baby carrier for hiking.
Hi! I am Kimberly, living in Huntington, NY. I’ve raised 4 beautiful children, and i started this blog to help new and upcoming mothers with parenting.