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Singing is one of the many things that often comes naturally to children if they’re exposed to music and see their parents having a sing-a-long. It is often a beautiful sight as they sing with full confidence and without a care in the world. Singing isn’t just fun for children, it’s also incredibly beneficial to their overall development from their brains all the way to their cardiovascular system. Some have even gone so far as to say that teaching and encouraging kids to sing is vital.
Is your child into singing or are you trying to find some activities to do with them? Perhaps you’ve seen a kids microphone and wonder if it’s worth the price. Well, the answer is an absolute yes and here’s why.
Improves their speech
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Talking and being spoke to is obviously top of the list of what helps their speech but singing is right up there for obvious reasons. Singing makes them repeat words and practice how to pronounce (especially when they sing along) words and learn new ones. Singing also helps them with reciting sentences, understand how they are formed and delivered and the what emotions are behind them.
Songs are often emotive and by singing they can start to put emotion behind their words.
Not only that, singing can help children reach new ranges and enhance their repertoire of volume, pitches and tones.
Helps their memory
Using your brain (mental stimulation) is the best way to improve your brain and keep it healthy (Harvard). Singing can be very taxing on their neurological system as it constantly needs to remember new songs and remember old ones as they recite the lines. Like a little computer constantly downloading and uploading. Their memory will go through leaps and bounds if they’re encouraged to sing and more so if they’re exposed to new songs and music as often as possible.
Builds confidence
Singing builds your child’s confidence to have fun and silly in front of other people which will help them confident enough to do it in later life. We all wish we had the confidence do what we love without caring what other people think or feel. Children who are supported and encouraged to do so it will feel natural to do so, as they should.
According to UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, a child’s self-esteem is established at 5 years old and remains stable for their whole life which makes the time up to that age critical and the onus is on the parents to foster and nurture their idea of self worth.
It’s a well known fact that it is childhood which shapes what we are as adults. Being confident with singing doesn’t mean they will end up being professional singers, but the confidence they gain from doing it becomes a soft skill that can help them be more confident to talk, play sports, offer opinions and be safe in their own skin when talking to strangers.
Helps them express themselves
There are some activities, toys and games which are played in a set way and follow rules which doesn’t allow kids to express themselves. Singing, however, lets them get their emotions and personal flair out as they do it. There’s an old disgusting phrase ‘kids should one seen and not heard’ which made generations of kids disappear into the background, a form of abuse and makes it easier to be abused. Kids need to heard and they need to be able to learn how to express themselves and singing is one way of enabling that.
Exercise
Singing is aerobic which means it works the cardiovascular (lungs and blood). It is even more so if your child is dancing and moving as they do it – this is easier if you get them a wireless microphone so they can play act along with a video. Your child can exercise and have fun at the same time which is a dream come true for parents, especially during house days where the weather might be bad.
Could be a lifelong love
Hobbies benefit our mental health and are things we can always turn to whenever we need it. Singing as a hobby doesn’t mean they will end up going multi-platinum as an artist, but it could mean that they continue to have a sing along at home and outside which releases oxytocin and perks them up. Singing may not be their only hobby, they may be lucky enough to have been exposed to reading, writing, sports and so on giving them a life rich of hobbies and they may never become bored.
