Day 5 of the 12 Days of Valentine’s – Love Yourself! is all about music. I remember feeling isolated with my first born. I think I was used to being at home for 2 days at a time without going anywhere. Before that, I worked for myself and was always on the go. If I wasn’t at the office, I was doing yoga, or running down by the beach. Suddenly with the birth of Monkey #1, I was spending days alone at home. Sure my husband was coming home from work every evening, but never had I spent entire days by myself. The silence was deafening. It takes a bit of getting used to, talking to this small human that doesn’t respond, that doesn’t even smile for the first 6 weeks at least. My boy was 4 weeks early, so he pretty much slept the first 4 weeks of his life – as if he was still in the womb. I stared into his eyes when he was awake, talked baby talk and waited for any kind of response. I didn’t have nearly the social life that some of my friends did before children (thanks to being self-employed) but still I used to come and go as I wanted and this new way of being, without any feedback sometimes made the days long.
That is how I discovered music and specifically dancing to music as a way to pass the time, connect with my baby and produce feel good hormones. To this date, Monkey #1 is still very musical and we still dance together. Researchers have said that playing music for young babies stimulates the brain. So you see, music is a double whammy, heightening your feel good hormones and nurtures your baby. Music is a building block to baby’s speech development.
And don’t be afraid to play whatever you normally play – music is music, a melody is a melody. Some people swear that you have to play the classics like Mozart. I say, as long as you and baby are moving and the music is not too loud for baby’s ears, then you are onto something good. Of course their is a theory that beyond stimulating the brain, the tempo of Mozart creates emotion as well.
Does music play a part in your family’s life?
I totally plan on constantly playing music with my little one. My parents always had music on for me. Heck, that’s how they got me to do chores. It’s fun to blast some music and dance while you make things look nicer.
Music is such a positive method of learning and can be incorporated into anything. 🙂 Thank you.