Can intelligence be increased through exposure to music?

Music and brain development go hand in hand. Music is often use for simulating and improving both hemispheres of the brain. Research, as mentioned in softpedia, has shown that music training has significant influences on the brain development of young children. Researchers found that the musically trained children performed better in a memory test that is correlated with other skills such as literacy, verbal memory, visual-spatial processing, mathematics and intelligence.Music exposure should start as early as possible. How can one do so you ask?Before birth and when a baby is born it has been recommended that classical music be played for them to listen. However, for most mother-to be and new moms it can be torturous on their ears if she is not a classical music lover. What I recommend would be to listen to easy listening music or your favourite radio station. I remember feeling the more frequent kicks of my baby in tummy whenever I listened to a more upbeat catchy tune. It showed that even an unborn child can “react” to the vibrations that they feel from the radio waves. When my children were born I exposed them to a variety of music. From classical, children’s songs, country & western, rock to different radio stations in different languages. I also sing and hum tunes to my babies while feeding them or playing with them during the day. I feel that it has helped to strengthen our mother child bond. Music helped to calm and soothe my child when he was a newborn suffering from colic. The melodious tunes I sung to him helped ease both his anxiety and mine as he learnt to relax. From an intense and stressful mood to a more relax and peaceful one ,music has done wonders as a stress reliever for both parent and child.Exposure to music has helped in my elder child’s language development. It came out as “ Baa Baa Baa Baa SHEEP!” which sounded rather hillarious at that time. A cool attempt nevertheless for a child that age. He was extremely proud of himself and wasn’t shy to sing to us his rendition of the popular nursery rhyme. He also had fun making up his own words to the tunes of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ when he was much older. If you do not have time or am shy to sing to your child as you are scared that you may sound out of tune there are many available resources for you.Here are some that I recommend.Websites which have Songs for kidshttp://kids.niehs.nih.gov/music.htmhttp://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/index.htmlMusic CDs Visit our Associate Store for a selectionIf paying $300-$500 per semester at Kindermusik or Gymboree is beyond your budget, you can check out our music & movement classes (based in Singapore) at our other website- My Little Playgroup

Reflective Monday #1

Nothing is more blissful then experiencing your child’s laughter and happiness as you engage in a bonding moment

Bad Cartoons

A few days ago I received a note from a reviewer about his take on Babies and television.

He was talking about even his best efforts to ensure that his grandkids watched educational programs could be undermined.

This is due to the junk that they may preview while watching free to air programs or commercials.

I agree that many of the cartoons targeted at children have varying degrees of violence and destruction .

The violence “hidea behind” the ever cute and adorable main characters like in the shows Pokemon and Pucca.

The plot for the cartoon are basically the same- fight the bad guy,and look good while doing it if I may add.

The same storyline is repeated episode after episode. It is amazing how hooked a child can be on it due to the amazing graphics and high entertainment value of the program.

Unconciously they absorb the wrong theory that violence is acceptable and it is allowed to achieve ” Justice” against evildoers. Every week they fight each other to get to their desired target.

Is this what we want to teach our impressionable kids?

DEFINATELY NO!!

It is already bad enough that most programs that we see on the television have either a violent or a questionable moral status. At this age it is quite difficult for them to comprehend the difference between reality and fantasy while they themselves are trying to understand their own needs and expressing themselves.

Therefore, i try to limit my kids exposure to these bad influences. If they do happen to watch such gory programs I make it a point to stress to him that what you see on television is may not be what happens in everyday life.

I also focus on the points that

• Yes the show (Eg: Tom & Jerry cartoon) maybe entertaining but in this family such acts of violence is not acceptable and is frown upon.Disturbing and mocking others or being physical is not being of a well-mannered likable child. In this way, hopefully, the child will understand and learn the preferred way of behaving and not just emulate whatever they see on television.
• Bad things do happen in real life. ( Especially if they are watching about crime, disasters on the news)I use the opportunity to teach my son he may not get what he wants all the time and sometimes he too may face setbacks. Ie: Not being able to go swimming on a rainy day or falling and grazing his lips while roller blading.
  Therefore he has to learn to accept the good together with the bad and work on being a better person.

Anger Management in Kids

Children can feel and express anger at a very young age. As they grow older, their understanding towards people and things around them starts to advance. Therefore, their way of expressing anger will also change, eventually.

As they grow up, situations that will cause them to become angry will increase. By now, they tend to understand more about their surroundings and had been in a lot of situations that would probably make them angry. All these are part of their development process.

The family plays a very important role in the emotional growth of the children, which has a direct influence on how they feel and the way they express their anger. Research shows that most children tend to imitate the behavior of their parents, whether directly or indirectly. So please, do not do things that you would not want your children to follow, in front of them. The surrounding at home is also very important as it plays a key role in the emotional development of the children.

I will share with you 5 very simple, yet proven to be effective ways that you can handle your children when they are in anger. They are also found at Child Anger Management – Helping Young Children with Anger, Effectively.

1. As a responsible parent, try to change the environment at home to prevent experiences or situations that will lead to unnecessary stress, anger or frustration between you and your children.
2. Do not take their anger personally. This will have direct influence on them. The angrier you are, the more anger they might have inside them too. Take a break before everything goes out of hand.
3. Try to direct their attention away from the current situation. Try to distract them from the situation, and get a break to cool things off before it gets worse.
4. It is very important that we as parents do not give in when our children is having their tantrums. If we do, they will think that by acting in that way, they can get what they want from us.
5. Do not lecture or hit your children when they are in anger, or for no particular reasons. It will only make things worse. Keep it for another day. Try to have a slow conversation with them to cool them down.

I hope these few tips help.
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