Why I Make My Kids Take Music Lessons | Elementary Years - Scary Mommy

When my oldest son was in second grade, we signed him up for piano lessons, notes Christine Organ, staff writer for Scary Mommy. 

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He wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, but he agreed. A few years later, we signed up his younger brother. For four years now, our kids have been tickling the ivories (or rather, awkwardly banging the keys). They aren’t musical prodigies by any stretch of the word, and they don’t exactly love music lessons, but we remain steadfast in our commitment.

Why? Why do we continue to spend time and money having our kids learn and practice something that they don’t particularly enjoy?

The reason is simple: Music is important. VERY IMPORTANT.

In fact, music is as important as math, science, or grammar. And in an educational climate that is cutting music classes down to 1-2 times a week (if at all), that just isn’t enough....

For these same reasons, my husband and I keep making our kids engage in music education. To us, this is just as important as learning chemistry symbols or mathematics skills. They are good for your brain – and your heart.

And science backs that up too. In fact, research shows that music will help our kids develop other skills we consider more “essential” – things like math, spelling, and grammar. A two-year study by researchers at the Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI) at the University of Southern California found that “exposure to music and music instruction accelerates the brain development of young children in the areas responsible for language development, sound, reading skill and speech perception.”
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Source: Scary Mommy