5 Reasons to Talk to Your Kids About Music Lessons

5 Reasons to Talk to Your Kids About Music Lessons

Music lessons are one of the most thoughtful and valuable gifts you can give to your kids. Encouraging them to study an instrument early on has numerous benefits for both you and them. Here are just a few:

It’s fun for them.

As a parent, you often have to strike a compromise between giving your kids what they want and what’s good for them. But music, which appeals to pretty much everyone, can easily be both. If you disagree with your kids about music, chances are it’s just down to the kind they like vs. the kind you like. We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the parents who force their child to learn an instrument and push him or her way too hard to succeed, but don’t let that deter you from suggesting the possibility. If you present the subject of music lessons in a way that allows your child to be active in choosing an instrument and a teacher, you can make the process fun and relaxed for both of you. You may allow them to play basic instruments like drums, guitar and piano, or influence them to prefer classical instruments such as violin, cello, and double bass. Choosing an instrument should always be about what your kids wants to learn.

There are plenty of good resources out there to help you with this process. LessonRating.com offers comprehensive information about online music courses and music teachers in your area, as well as free video lessons.

It’s something you can share.

If you play an instrument yourself, you can create family time around playing music together. If you don’t play an instrument, you can still cultivate an active interest in music, and this will give you something to talk to your kids about. Whether it’s your favorite Mozart sonata or figuring out the time signature in their favorite new hit single, the conversational possibilities are endless. Not only does this keep things interesting at the dinner table or on car trips, but it creates a common bond between you and your family.

It allows them to have new and varied experiences. We’ve already talked about how reading can make children more culturally aware. Music education has many of the same benefits as reading in that it exposes kids to a cultural source. Rather than simply being told how important a particular piece of music or composer is, they can experience it for themselves. Music also helps to vary activity level. As a parent, you can help balance out the hours of classroom instruction your kids get in school by encouraging them to engage in hands-on activities at home. As music practice requires both physical and mental concentration, it provides a welcome break from homework and studying.

It could help them in school.

Music lessons expose your child to a learning structure that introduces and reinforces concepts such as discipline and working hard to achieve goals. Aside from this more obvious benefit, science continues to support the advantages of music education at an early age. A recent study at Northwestern University found that exposure to music instruction may improve auditory development, and consequently various language-related skills, in children as young as three years of age.

It can help you manage your own schedule.

Knowing exactly where your kids are going to be at a given time is a bonus for any parent. Effectively juggling appointments, obligations and personal time is important to keeping your stress level down, which in turn allows you spend more quality moments with your family. Being able to designate certain periods as “lesson time” or “practice time” will help both you and your kids stay organized, focused, and relaxed.

We all want to create a nurturing and stimulating atmosphere for our children, and adding music education to the mix is one of the best ways to do this. Talk to your kids about learning an instrument and see how they feel. It just might end up being a great investment for the whole family.