Music and Movement In the Home - Do Your Children Have an Advantage?

What are your memories regarding music and movement in your younger years? Do you remember the type of music your parents listened to around the house? Do certain songs or types of music trigger memories? There may be love songs that still remind you of the way your first girlfriend smelled, or you may have songs that are associated with negative memories in your mind. This shows how powerful early childhood music experiences can be for most people!

Since the experiences your children have today with music could continue to affect them much later in life, there are ways you can use music and movement to their advantage. You can give your children early childhood music experiences that bring back positive memories, relaxation and encouragement when they are much older.

Music as Relaxation

There is a reason those with sleeping problems are often encouraged to listen to soothing music in a dark, comfortable place when they are unable to fall asleep. Music can be incredibly relaxing and may be combined with deep breathing exercises to bring down the heart rate for a calm, peaceful state of mind. Some people even meditate to soft music and meditation chants often form rhythmic tunes much like songs.

You can use this to your advantage by using slower paced, rhythmic children's songs to soothe your children to sleep or out of a temper tantrum. Think of a mother rocking her crying baby and softly humming a tune. That baby will one day grow up to think of music in a relaxing manner, since that was their early childhood music experience. Give this gift to your children, starting today. They should be able to use music as a soothing, calming force when life starts to wear them down.

Music for Excitement

Music and movement naturally go together, so it makes sense to use early childhood music exposure to pump up excitement for life. Why do you think marching bands are used on football fields? The music gets the crowd on their feet cheering! In some cases, the band is more effective at exciting the fans than the cheerleaders.

If you properly role model the use of music and movement for excitement, your children can learn to feel comfortable when in situations involving music. When the marching band swings into action at a high school football game, your children will swing into action with them naturally. Your children may even be out there on the field with them!

Music for Fun

High school sweethearts swaying in rhythm on the dance floor at prom. A newly married couple dancing across the reception hall floor, starting their life together. College students at a rave dancing through the night. Your children will experience social situations throughout their lifetimes that involve music and movement. How they respond to these situations and how comfortable they feel moving in front of and with others may come down largely to their early childhood music experiences!

Early childhood music courses are perfect for training children to use music comfortably in all of these ways. What are your child's experiences with music to date? Will they be able to use this to their advantage when they are older?