When you’re raising a child you’re often on the hunt for ways to enrich your child’s life, whether it be having them play sports or joining a scout program. Many parents are passionate about their children’s education and may want to look for ways they can help their child develop their intelligence. With technology being as accessible as it is today and only becoming more accessible, many parents have looked into having their children learn to code. While this is a great skill to have, teaching your child music may actually be the better option.
A recent study done over at MIT has found that music plays a big role in children’s brain development. While learning coding can help a child with skills such as math and language, music helps the brain work in a more connected manner which can ultimately allow the child to be capable of learning many skills beyond music. Researchers believe that this shows how experience is vital to shaping the human brain. The study deduced that musical brains create more structural and functional connections when compared to those with no musical experience at all. Research has also shown that music isn’t the only way to produce these connections, as activities such as chess, golf, and ballet can also achieve similar results.
The study was carried out by taking 103 professional musicians as well as 50 non-musicians, scanning each of their brains, and then comparing the results. This showed the researchers that all of the musician’s scans had similar networks and that they had more structural and functional connections than the non-musician scans, especially where speech and sound were concerned. Researchers also discovered that these connections were stronger in subjects who started music earlier in life.
Music is a wonderful thing, and if you’re passionate about making sure your child is as intelligent as can be, perhaps you’ll want to think about introducing music in their life, especially if you can start them young. When it comes down to it, there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to the activities your child participates in while growing up. Whether it be sports, acting, coding, music, or something else, they’re bound to find some sort of enrichment out of it.
