Music is a great vehicle for parenting. It can help your child sleep and relax. Enjoy this guest post, written by Melissa Perry Moraja. I have come across her wonderful children’s books and reflections on children, music and creativity. I have asked her to share her experiences with using music to help her children as well as one of her books.

Music soothes. Music motivates. Music can be used to help your child relax and learn

Throughout my entire life, I’ve used music as a tool to stay motivated, to relax, and to improve my concentration. And when I was blessed with four active children, I leveraged what I knew; especially during bedtime.

When my three oldest children were little, about thirty minutes before it was time for them to take a nap, I would turn on some easy-listening or classical music such as Frank Sinatra, Beethoven, and Harry Conick Jr. This would help their little minds and bodies wind down and relax enough so they were able—and more willing—to go to bed. Once I laid their little heads down on their pillows, I would continue playing the music in their bedrooms for an additional thirty minutes. I found this to help them fall asleep quicker and more peacefully.

Today, all four of my children go right to bed and fall asleep within seconds. Their minds know how to relax. But that’s only one benefit of classical music. It’s also well known that students test better when they play classical music in the background while studying. Classical music has a slower calmer vibe. It’s the music that stimulates the subconscious mind, allowing information to easily enter it. And as a parent, it’s a great tool to use to help your child not only relax, but also retain information.

As for other types of music, like hip hop and easy-listening, they too can be used to help in making your parenting life more manageable. Below are some ways to use various music tones.

* Classical Music (Beethoven, Mozart) – Like I mentioned above, this type of music works wonders for helping your child relax. It also has been found to help your child concentrate and retain information while studying.
* New Age (Enya, Cirque Du Soleil) – New age music stimulates creativity such as painting and writing. It opens the mind to a world of imagination.
* Easy listening music (Eagles, Frank Sinatra, Adele)–play at dinner to stimulate conversation, but not energize. It has a fun, light beat that allows kids and parents to sit and enjoy their conversation.
* Hip hop, dance and disco music—This type of music motivates. If you are begging your child to clean their room or do their chores, instead turn on some fun, dance music and allow everyone to boogie down as they clean-up.
* Heavy metal music—I recommend only playing this type of music when you want your kids to just be completely, physically silly. This type of music has been found to cause aggressive behavior. If you have a high energy child, you may find that he or she will get a little out of control when you play this type of music.

Lastly, songs with rhyme are an excellent way to help your child learn a poem, a story, or even facts. As a writer and illustrator, I created a rhyming song in my first Splatter and Friends children’s picture book called Red Light, Green Light, Splat to teach children their colors. Kids love rhythm. And songs with rhyme create a fun beat, allowing them to remember. Ho Hum Hum Song
Red as an apple, blue as the sky, jump up and down reaching high high high. Green as the grass, yellow as the sun, get ready, get set, run run run. Orange as a carrot, purple as a plum, turn around in circles shouting HO HUM HUM!

Melissa is a mom entrepreneur, multi-faceted business woman, and creative producer, authoring and illustrating seven children’s books and three self-help books. She has written articles (Color and Its Affect), been interviewed on television (discussing How to Raise Creative Children), spoken in front of hundreds of people (Southern Women’s Show), and successfully achieved two degrees undergraduate degree in finance and graduate degree in marketing).Melissa believes in family and raising children in a creative, loving, and inspirational environment. She herself has four young children (9 year old boy, 8 year old boy/girl twins, and a one year old) that have truly helped her continue seeing the world through a child’s eyes—pure creative imagination! In 2007, Melissa made a decision to leave her six-salary career at IBM to become a full-time mom and pursue her passion as an author, speaker, and consultant.  

Connect with Melissa at
www.splatterandfriends.com
www.notyourordinarypsychicmom.com
//www.facebook.com/melissaproductions
@MelissaProd