Parents are always looking for ways to help their child’s growth and development, from the physical, emotional, behavioral, to mental aspects. Your child’s early years are significant in all aspects of his or her growth. It is important to nurture your child’s emotional, social, and intellectual needs during these developmental years.
These early years are significant in the brain development of your child. These early experiences have lasting effects on the child’s emotional and psychological health.
But how do you nurture these needs? As a parent, you only want what’s best for your kids. There is no single effective parenting method, but there are practices that can give you positive results. You can adapt these practices to aid in your children’s development and help them grow into well-rounded and healthy adults in the future.
Your child’s development does not only refer to your child’s physical growth. It also includes the following areas:
- Cognitive – Your child’s ability to solve problems and learn new things.
- Speech and Language – Your child’s ability to understand and use a language. It also includes your child’s reading and communication skills.
- Social Interaction – Your child’s skills in interacting with other people.
- Physical or Motor Skills – It includes your child’s fine and gross motor skills.
- Awareness – Your child’s sensory awareness and how he processes sensory information.
Music Intervention To Your Child’s Cognitive Development
If you think that enrolling your child in voice lessons can greatly help his or her development, you are right. Research shows that music can positively impact your child’s educational growth and development. Musical interventions can positively affect a child’s cognitive, motor, language, and social skills.
Music can engage your child’s senses and introduce him to a multi-sensory experience that can help his cognitive skills develop. It can help a child’s literacy, numeracy, concentration, and intellectual development. Singing songs helps the child develop his memory as well as his vocabulary.
Music can also be used as an intervention for children with attention problems. Studies show that children who were subjected to music interventions were more attentive. They also fared better on tasks that measured their attention control.
Another study showed that children trained in playing musical instruments have more cognitive flexibility and have better performance than children who did not have musical training. Some studies even show how music training can positively affect your child’s skills in mathematics.
Music Helps Your Child’s Emotional Development
As adults, your emotional health plays a significant role in your contentment and happiness. The emotional development of children can help them become happier and more stable adults. It is important that your child identify different emotions, process them, and express them if needed. A child needs to learn and develop these skills to be both psychologically and emotionally healthy.
Sometimes, children, even adults, have difficulty expressing how they feel. Music, whether through singing, dancing, or playing an instrument, gives a child a safe venue to express his feelings. As with all forms of art, music gives your child a safe and productive outlet for his feelings, whether good or bad. It is a means of self-expression as well as a form of enjoyment. It can also communicate his feelings, whether it is fear, sadness, or joy.
Singing with other people or playing a musical instrument with a group helps them learn teamwork and empathy. Your child will learn to watch for cues from other people so that they can produce harmonious music. Later on, your child can use this skill to read the mood and feelings of the people around him.
Music also teaches a child self-control. He will have to learn to wait for his turn, especially when making music with others. Your child will also learn how to respect his peers. He will learn how to work well with a team as they practice and collaborate to create beautiful music. It will also give your child the feeling that he belongs to a group that shares the same interests.
Lastly, learning a skill increases your child’s self-confidence, especially when they play or sing for an audience, whether big or small.
Music Can Benefit All Children
Music training and exposure can greatly benefit children of all ages and abilities. Exposing infants, even babies in your womb, to music helps the brain build and develop neural bridges. It is not that listening to music or playing an instrument can make you smarter. Music primes the brain for its different functions, such as spatial reasoning.
Expose your baby to music early. Play music to him, but remember to keep it at a moderate volume only. Sing to your baby to help jumpstart their learning of language. As they grow, you can then sing with your child or teach them how to play an instrument. Enjoying music with your child does not only nurture his development but your relationship with him as well.