Music NEEDS to be a part of a child’s development.
Music is and has always been an integral part of MY life in particular and has influenced me in such a positive way. The reason for that is because I was introduced to music at such a young age and I fell in love with it. I also know so many more whose lives have been greatly affected by either playing or just listening to music.
So there has to be a reason you see mothers putting headphones on their baby bump or having their kids watch Baby Mozart only months after they’re born. Right?
Yes, music is an integral facet of the development of babies that can’t be overlooked.
Babies love music and a steady rhythm, that’s why babies like to be pat on the back and rocked to sleep, it provides a calming effect. Before babies are able to comprehend words and speech they can understand patterns and rhythm in music. They also recognize facial expressions and movements when sung to, teaching them more of the art of communication.
The reason that music is so calming to babies is that it reduces their stress. The sounds of a familiar song can be soothing and are the reason that so many parents sing lullabies to their children before bed.
Along with that, research shows that babies that are sung to before bed sleep better because of the fact that humans are wired to listen to musical patterns in everyday life and those patterns activate reward centers in the brain, leading to a calming effect.
The sounds a parent makes while singing to their child can help the child learn about their own emotions and to begin to learn how to regulate those emotions.
Giving a young child a drum or a xylophone to bang on could be one of the best things someone could do for that child because of how beneficial it is to developing their fine motor skills, they become more agile and adaptive with each beat to that drum. Babies also begin to develop their balance as they stomp their feet to the rhythm of a song.
How playing an instrument benefits your brain — Anita Collins
After talking to my roommate, Zeanna, a Human Development and Family Studies student at Colorado State University, about the topic of music and child development, she stated that music can help children establish patience and the ability to stick to something when it might seem too difficult. Music could also improve the way a young child learns.
Further on in a young child’s development music will start to affect them more socially. For me, being in an orchestra all through grade school and middle school helped me develop my teamwork skills not only with those who played the same instrument as me but with the entire orchestra.
Along with that, music education once the child is in school is very important as studies have shown that the ability to read music on a sheet and to be able to translate that into notes at specific times in a song drastically benefits the overall memory center of the brain. That memory improvement can help kids in school and life when they need to translate something that they learned into something they have to do. Music also drastically improves the study habits of kids due to the constant practice and effort it takes to master an instrument.
Understanding how music affects children as a parent is key because of the countless benefits that show that music is such a crucial part of child development and can lead to great success in the future. Or at least a head start over those who don’t implement music into their child’s upbringing.
