Summer is just around the corner, which means it’s time to decide which of the ten thousand available options you should enroll your children in.
There is every sport imaginable, and many are available year round these days. And there are camps that target any interest your kids could dream up, and probably a few more.
But there’s only so much time (and money!) in the day. Choosing options that make your children happy, foster their interests, and provide some long-term benefits to their lives can leave us feeling a little overwhelmed and uncertain.
In making these choices, one that you should put on the schedule as early as possible for your child is music class. Organizations like Kindermusik and Music Together have classes for babies, and provide music education up through age seven.
As kids get older, there can be a negative association with music, as they dread practicing the instrument mom and dad are paying all this money to teach them to play!
But there are an increasing number of alternatives to the “boring” 30 minute private music lesson.
With just a little effort, you’ll find music camps available through local parks and rec centers, as well as local music schools that have come up with creative ways to develop your child's love for music.
Why Music?
We’ve all heard the benefits of sports on our child’s development, such as team building, self-esteem, and physical development.
So how do the benefits of music stack up against the advantages of involving your children in sports?
Music and Academics
One of the biggest advantages that all researchers agree on is the academic edge music can provide to your young child.
Learning should be fun, or your child will develop a life-long resistance to it.
Music allows your child to develop many of the same characteristics that are key to academic achievement, without being sat at a desk and told to “learn.”
According to Kindermusik, “listening, identifying patterns, problem-solving, creative thinking, and self-confidence” are all skills that are developed through music. They are also skills that have been demonstrated to contribute to a child’s academic achievement.
Many researchers have pointed out the benefits of music to your child’s ability to learn math, a subject children often find boring and struggle to conquer.
Understanding music beats and learning scales works to teach your child how to divide, recognize patterns, and work with fractions, all in an enjoyable environment that math class could never recreate.
Studies have also shown that music can accelerate brain development, especially in the area of reading skills and language acquisition.
Many even suggest that involvement in music class will improve your child's scores on tests such as the SAT.
Music Develops Physical Skills
From marching around the room to the beat of a toddler tune, to rhythmically banging on the drums in your school band, music improves all areas of coordination and motor skills.
In music classes for the younger child, gross motor skill development that is so important at the time is really the entire focus of the class as your child skips, hops, jumps, dances and waves her arms to the beat (or even not to the beat) of the music.
As children get older, music will continue to help them develop their fine motor skills as various instruments teach them to place their hands in new and even initially uncomfortable ways.
This is especially true with string instruments and the piano, but even learning where to hold and how to move your fingers on a recorder or saxophone will get your child’s fine motor skills in tune in a way that no other activity can match.
The young child’s movements in music class also stimulate the brain in ways that aid in development of the vestibular system. This will give your child a better sense of balance and awareness of her personal space and the world around her.
Obviously, all of the physical advantages of music translate into advantages in sports, dance, gymnastics, and even just increased confidence at recess and when playing games with other kids.
Music Helps Your Child Learn Discipline and Patience
Discipline and patience are obviously traits that will serve your child throughout his life.
Children who actively participate in a music class are known to show greater attendance at school, as well as pay closer attention and be more on-task while they are in class.
This may have to do with the role that music plays in teaching your child about delayed gratification.
In the beginning, your child will find it difficult to even clap on a beat. As simple instruments are introduced, he’ll have trouble making any sound when he first tries to blow into a recorder or flute.
And the sound he makes when he first draws the bow across the violin can be well, down right scary.
But as he experiences and plays with the instruments, he’ll actually hear pleasing improvements in his abilities, and will internalize the fact that patience, determination, discipline, persistence and a whole other host of positive qualities can really pay off.
This will also improve his self-esteem in a way that traditional classroom learning will never do.
Music is For Everyone
Basically, you just can’t go wrong with music. Everyone is in agreement that music education and involvement benefits your child’s physical, emotional, and social growth and development in an endless number ways.
And unlike sports, which make some children feel uncomfortable or inadequate, no special interest or ability is required to engage in music fun that will provide all the benefits of sports, and more.
At KidsPartyCharacters.com, we recognize and encourage the importance of music at your child’s party. All of our characters enter to their theme song and our actors bring a play list of music along to your child’s party.
You’ll find your child and her friends smiling and moving happily to the music at a KidsPartyCharacters.com party. Visit our website to start planning your child’s next party and see the 200+ unique characters we have to bring as your child’s special party guest.
Choose the package that’s perfect for you at KidsPartyCharacters.com and let us do the hard work while you sit back and enjoy the perfect birthday experience with your child and her guests.
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