Parents have been trying almost anything to get their children through this pandemic. COVID-19 has taken a toll on the mental health of children all across the US and the world. They have had to adapt to some pretty sudden and severe changes. They have had to go without seeing their families and friends. Playdates and birthday parties have been cancelled, and their school has been moved online. This has resulted in a lot of mental health concerns among children and parents wondering what they can do to help their child get through this.
Music therapy is something that has been used for years to help those facing daily challenges. From seniors with Dementia to children who have Autism, music has been seen as a form of healing for a while, and it can help children who are struggling with the effects of the lockdown.
According to Music Therapy, the act of music therapy is to assist others when it comes to facing challenges in many areas of their lives. These challenges could be physical, emotional, cognitive or social and they are usually conducted by licensed therapists. However, that doesn’t mean that mom cannot take the theories that are used and learn from them to apply to their own children.
Music has been shown to be incredibly helpful for those who need help expressing themselves. Children can often have a hard time explaining how they are feeling. They are just learning about the world around them and putting their feelings into words can be difficult.
Music Therapy Helps Let Out Expressions Through Music
Music therapy has a lot of components to it, but it is not about sitting down and learning how to play an instrument, according to Peterson Family Foundation. Music therapy is about singing, playing instruments, writing songs or just listening to music. There is an appropriate method no matter how old our child is. If you are dealing with a younger child, giving them a pot and some spoons to play music can help them relax. An older child may benefit from writing a song together about how they are feeling.
Music therapy has been proven to positively affect a person’s heart rate and their breathing. It has been shown to be calming and help a person slow down their heart rate and breathing in times of anxiety. A child may not be able to tell you that they are feeling anxious, but they will often show signs and that could be moms cue to put on some music and have a dance party in the kitchen. It has also been shown to remove negative emotions, which your child may be full of during lockdown. This is because music is able to change the thought process and turn the negative thoughts into positive ones.
Every Child Benefits From Music Therapy
Music therapy also has no rules of age-limits. When it comes to playing some music at home and singing and dancing along, you don’t need to be a trained singer or dancer. You just need to have fun and humans have shown that they have an innate reaction to music that doesn’t seem to have an age limit. According to News24, children’s music may be the best to use when it comes to music therapy for one good reason, it is repetitive. Children’s songs tend to repeat a melody and lyrics over and over again and this has proven to be beneficial to children.
Repeat Is Familiar
The reason a repetitive song works so well is because of its predictability. When a song is predictive, it brings a sense of stability to a child. When a brain (even a child’s brain) can predict what is coming next, it is going to view the environment as safe. A stable and predictable life is likely what a child is missing during this lockdown, and songs like Baby Shark and Daddy Finger may be the perfect thing to remind them that everything is going to be OK.
Music also has the ability to stimulate the prefrontal cortex, and while that seems like a lot of scientific words, it just means that they are better able to process the current state of events. At the end of it all, music and dance parties are just fun, and a family can never have too much fun. If you notice your child is having a rough day or just seems a bit off, put on some music and start dancing. Before you know it, they will join you and everyone will be laughing in no time.
Sources: News24, Peterson Family Foundation, Music Therapy