Summer Music Activities

There’s no better way to enhance your summer fun than to blend music into your daily life. Studies have shown that learning while exercising the right brain with activities such as music helps improve creativity, memory, and language learning.

Did you know that involvement in music and movement activities from an early age helps children develop good social and emotional skills as well? Social and emotional development has also been linked to school-readiness and even higher academic testing scores.

An easy way to blend music, movement, learning and fun for your child this summer is to enroll him or her into a Kindermusik summer camp. To find a class near you, click on kindermusik.com or give Kindermusik with Angie a call: 503-708-2827!

For a few ideas to incorporate music into your family’s activities, read the activities section below!

Babies                                        0 to 18 mos

Light and motion are incredibly important to your baby’s development. You can help your baby improve his or her visual literacy by encouraging his or her eyes to move. Spread out a blanket under a shade tree and lie on the blanket with your baby. Watch the motion of the tree branches as they sway in the breeze. Watch the clouds go by and sing a favorite song. It doesn’t matter if you’re a “good” singer or not, your baby will love the sound of your voice.

You might just find the perfect sing-along song on Kindermusik’s “Wiggle, Waggle, Loop-de-Loo” CD.

Toddlers                                        18 mos to 3 yrs

Ask your toddler what kinds of sounds different animals make, repeating the sounds with him or her. Get creative with your choices, what sound does a grumpy gorilla make? Then talk about comparisons: roaring lions versus chirping robins. If you have an older toddler, add an extra challenge by having him or her make the sound of an animal that is associated with their hiding place: buzzing like a bee if they’re by the flower bed or croaking like a frog if they hide under a bush.

The perfect song for this activity might just be found on Kindermusik’s “Frog Went A-Dancing” CD.

Big Kids                                                 5 yrs & up

Go on a treasure hunt in your own backyard! Collecting things is a favorite preschool activity. Children in this age group are expanding their memory skills and the joy of finding a new or interesting item is particularly rewarding. Start out by deciding on a category that won’t be hard to find (leaves, rocks, etc.) or take along a notebook and you can write down the colors of the cars parked on the street. Once you have a goal, start your search! After you’ve done this a few times, come up with more specific and more challenging objects to seek. Below are a few additional ideas:

• Head outside and look for things that are purple, or polka-dotted or try to find smooth things, or bumpy objects.
• Play a music game. Try to fit songs into categories. Is it fast or slow? Loud or soft?
• Decorate an empty shoebox for your collection!
• If it’s too hot to go outside, give your preschooler a piece of paper with the name of a category on it. Have him or her draw pictures of items that fit into that category.

Kindermusik’s “Rupert the Wrong-Word Pirate” CD might just have the perfect “tune” to accompany this activity — after all — pirates LOVE treasure hunts!

Find these CDs, songs, activities, and MORE at play.kindermusik.com

Join in the Fun this Summer!

Games for Babies: Beak-it

This Article was originally posted Friday, May 14th on the Studio3Music Website.  I will be posting a series of articles about exercises and games we can do with our babies and toddlers.

In my Village Classes, we’ve been exercising little arms, legs, and brains to one of my favorite poems.

One Misty Moisty Morning


One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to see an old man dressed all in leather.
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do?
How do you do?
And, how do you do again?

When we get to the repeated “How do you do?” section, we stop the exercises and “beak-it” the babies on each word “you.” Beak-it? Yes!  The touch is paired with language, either the poem above, or a simple “beep” or “beak-it.”

- posted by Miss Anita, From Studio 3, who loves the look of glee on a baby’s face during a “Beak-It! Game!”   web site:  http://studio3music.com/category/games-for-babies/

You can learn this game and many more exercises in our fabulous children's music class: Kindermusik Village.  Sign up today!  Call 503-708-2827

Reading with Toddlers

This is a great article about reading with our toddlers! It offers suggestions of ways to get started and the benefits to our children when we read to them.

The main thing to keep in mind about reading with toddlers is that it has more to do with pointing and talking than with sitting still and listening.

There are many great options for toddler books. Board books fall into two categories: storybooks and content books. A good toddler storybook often shows the sequence of common routines—such as bedtime, taking a walk, or bath time. Helen Oxenbury’s Tom and Pippo series is a great example. A toddler and his imaginary companion, a sock monkey, go through simple activities together under the loving care of mom and dad. While reading storybooks, take time to talk about what is happening and make connections to what your family does that is either the same or different. Books that incorporate touching and feeling, like Pat the Bunny and any book with flaps, create moments for interaction that are ideal for this age.

Board books by Sandra Boyton combine humorous stories with learning concepts, such as animal sounds, and opposites. Your child’s ability to remember and her vocabulary are growing tremendously, and books that introduce first words and emotions feed her desire for information. The structure of a book helps her organize what she is learning. (It is a good idea to save alphabet and counting books for another year or so.)

Parents read to share their own love of books, to bond with their child, to stimulate their child’s language development (among other great reasons). All of these goals can be reached with a toddler by following these recommendations.

How to encourage reading in a toddler:

• Keep durable books in a visible and easy-to-access location.
• Allow your child to choose what to read whenever possible.
• Provide your child a variety of books—story, learning, humorous, rhyming books.
• Build several moments for reading into your daily routine.
• Resist taking away reading time as a consequence. (“Mommy will not read a bedtime story tonight if…)
• Limit television viewing.

How to manage reading with a toddler:

• Be willing to read only parts of a book and pages out of order.
• Read when asked.
• Let your child hold the book and turn the pages.
• Sit close to your child, as much as possible, while reading.

While you are fostering a love of books, disregard the commonly held idea that you must read to your child for a set amount of time (20 minutes) in one sitting everyday, or that you are a failure if you can’t get your toddler to sit still to “read.” Home literacy has a lot to do with having dynamic conversation, using a varied vocabulary, and modeling a love of reading. If, in your literacy rich home, you continue to make books available and offer to read on a routine basis, your child will take interest. At some point, the momentum to read together will shift from you to your child…and then be ready to sit down with a pile of picture books.

Credits: 60 second parent website: great articles! http://www.sixtysecondparent.com/_webapp_218785/Reading_with_Toddlers

Parenting a Shy Child

I thought this was a great article.  My son is not shy at all, a bit hesitant in new situations, but then fine as he gets is bearings.  However, I was a very shy child growing up.  But I was shy because I was a big kid--bigger than everyone--until they started passing me up in Jr. High School.  I could have used some of these suggestions and helps while I was in elementary school.

Many children are shy – it's not uncommon at all. However, dealing with a shy child as a parent can be difficult. While there is no shame in being shy, if you continue to let your child be shy, they can later be robbed of important life opportunities. For this reason, it's important that parents find ways to help bring their child out, helping them to overcome the shyness that they are dealing with. Of course, it's easier said than done to help your child get over being shy. Here is a look at tips and advice that parents can use to help out when it comes to parenting a shy child.

Why Is Your Child Shy?

The first thing you need to do if you have a shy child is to ask yourself why your child is shy in the first place. There are various reasons that your child may be shy. Take a look at when you notice your child being shy. Are they shy all the time, only shy when meeting someone new, shy in large groups, or shy when having to make presentations? If you are able to figure out the situations when your child is shy, you will be better able to overcome this.

You also need to consider the fact that your child may be dealing with more than just a bit of shyness. Various medical conditions and other conditions may be confused with shyness in a child. Your child could be dealing with a problem like Asperger's Syndrome, autism, anxiety, or even learning disabilities. Take a careful look at your child and their actions. If you think there may be an underlying problem other than shyness, make sure they get the professional attention that they need.

Be a Role Model
Another important tip for parenting a shy child is to be a role model yourself. You may be surprised at how much your child learns from you. They learn by watching what you do, so it is important that you are a good role model for them. When you are in social situations, be friendly to others, introduce yourself to other people, and compliment strangers, friends, and family members. There are some things you should avoid too. Don't criticize other people in public, don't berate your child for being shy, and don't avoid people because you are nervous. This only sends the wrong message to your child. Even if you are a shy person yourself, to help you child, you need to overcome that and work on setting the example for your child. Not only can this help your child learn important social skills, but it can help you overcome shyness in your own life as a parent.

Start Early with Social Skills

Good social skills don't just randomly occur in children – they are taught. This means that you need to work on these skills with your children, and the earlier you begin, the better. Shyness increases as children age, so you need to start young with your child. Not sure how to encourage social skills in your young child? Start out by having play dates so your child gets the chance to interact with other children at a young age. Take time at home to practice social skills, such as giving compliments, introducing people, or even shaking hands with others. Teach kids about friendship and how to be a good friend. These are all simple ways that you can teach young children important social skills that will help them to overcome shyness later in life.

Help Your Child Learn About Respect and Tolerance
 People who are shy are often more judgmental – of themselves as well as others. If you are judgmental yourself, this will teach your child to become this way as well. When you are criticizing others, you are teaching children that when they go out, people are going to judge them as well, which leads to even more shyness. This causes them to withdraw into their own world of shyness. It is important that you instead teach your child about respect and tolerance for other people. Teach them to respect people even if they do have shortcomings. Let them know that no one is perfect, but people are worthwhile and should be tolerated in spite of imperfections. Compliment other people instead of tearing people down.

Also, you need to avoid referring to your child's shyness in a negative way, which is a way of judging your child. While shyness should not be an excuse for behavior, you need to avoid labeling your child as shy in a negative way. Instead, find ways you can compliment your child while helping them to overcome the shyness that they are dealing with.

When You Need Help
There are some cases where your child may simply be dealing with shyness. However, there are times when this can be a more serious problem, such as severe social anxiety disorder. Sometimes children can go beyond simply being shy and they may become depressed, lonely, isolated, and they may even feel hopeless. In some cases, this may lead to panic attacks when they are put in social situations. This is not a simple problem to ignore. If you feel that your child is dealing with more than simple shyness, do not wait to get help. It may be a good idea to find a good psychologist that is trained in treating these problems in children.

Parenting a shy child can be tough, but if you work on it as a team with your child, they can overcome shyness, which will be helpful later in life for them. Use these tips and ideas with your child and remember, if it seems that your child is more than just shy, get the help that your child needs.

Article found here: http://www.more4kids.info/2413/parenting-a-shy-child/
More4kids is a Parenting resource dedicated to helping encourage children's intellectual and growth.

Put some music into the mix this summer!

There's no better way to enhance your summer fun than to blend music into your daily life. Studies have shown that learning while exercising the right brain with activities such as music helps improve creativity, memory, and language learning.

Did you know that involvement in music and movement activities from an early age helps children develop good social and emotional skills as well? Social and emotional development has also been linked to school-readiness and even higher academic testing scores.

 An easy way to blend music, movement, learning and fun for your child this summer is to enroll him or her into a Kindermusik summer camp. To find a class near you, click here.

 For a few ideas to incorporate music into your family's activities, read the activities section below!

Babies (0-18 mos):
Light and motion are incredibly important to your baby's development. You can help your baby improve his or her visual literacy by encouraging his or her eyes to move. Spread out a blanket under a shade tree and lie on the blanket with your baby. Watch the motion of the tree branches as they sway in the breeze. Watch the clouds go by and sing a favorite song. It doesn't matter if you're a "good" singer or not, your baby will love the sound of your voice.


You might just find the perfect sing-along song on Kindermusik's "Wiggle, Waggle, Loop-de-Loo" CD.
 

Toddlers (18 mos-3 yrs): Ask your toddler what kinds of sounds different animals make, repeating the sounds with him or her. Get creative with your choices, what sound does a grumpy gorilla make? Then talk about comparisons: roaring lions versus chirping robins. If you have an older toddler, add an extra challenge by having him or her make the sound of an animal that is associated with their hiding place: buzzing like a bee if they're by the flower bed or croaking like a frog if they hide under a bush.

The perfect song for this activity might just be found on Kindermusik's "Frog Went A-Dancing" CD.
 
 

Big Kids (5 yrs &up):
Go on a treasure hunt in your own backyard! Collecting things is a favorite preschool activity. Children in this age group are expanding their memory skills and the joy of finding a new or interesting item is particularly rewarding. Start out by deciding on a category that won't be hard to find (leaves, rocks, etc.) or take along a notebook and you can write down the colors of the cars parked on the street. Once you have a goal, start your search! After you've done this a few times, come up with more specific and more challenging objects to seek. Below are a few additional ideas:

• Head outside and look for things that are purple, or polka-dotted or try to find smooth things, or bumpy objects.
• Play a music game. Try to fit songs into categories. Is it fast or slow? Loud or soft?
• Decorate an empty shoebox for your collection!
• If it's too hot to go outside, give your preschooler a piece of paper with the name of a category on it. Have him or her draw pictures of items that fit into that category.

Kindermusik's "Rupert the Wrong-Word Pirate" CD might just have the perfect "tune" to accompany this activity -- after all -- pirates LOVE treasure hunts!

Find these CDs, songs, activities, and MORE at play.kindermusik.com 

 Join in the Fun this Summer!

Feelings

Part Five: The Emotional Life of the Toddler

Control of emotions is one of the most complex challenges facing toddlers and their parents. children vary greatly in the intensity of how they experience and express feelings, depending on inborn temperamental factors, but it is a rare toddler whose feelings do not become intense and overwhelming at times. As parents provide both limits and loving support to their toddler, they are helping the child gradually learn ways of handling and modulating their feelings so that the tantrums of the 2-year-old ideally give way to emphatic verbal argument of the pre-schooler.

Developing competence in language and increasingly complex symbolic play skills will help this process immensely. Music as a fundamental route for the expression of human emotion, is an excellent tool for helping young children learn to identify and channel emotions. Very young children can identify and channel emotions. Very young children can identify music that makes them happy or sad, and enter enthusiastically into singing songs, or even verses within the same song that express emotion. Learning to identify loving, contented feelings and feelings of anger, fear and sadness are equally important human tasks. Musical expression of these wide ranges of emotion can help make them more manageable, less overwhelming, and much more understandable to the child who language skills are still emerging.

It is clear that many of the elements that make up a Kindermusik class enhance a toddler's ability to progress in these crucial tasks. The structure of the Kindermusik program and the opportunities it offers have the potential to directly enhance each parents ability to support his or her child in these tasks, and thus increase th joy inherent in parenting a bright, musical toddler.

Cooking with Children: Make it Fun, Safe & Memorable!

Article by: Sue Adair May 17th, 2010

Sharing the kitchen with your child can not only create a lifetime of happy memories, but can also instill valuable life lessons from a young age. Through baking, cooking and even cleaning up, children can develop and express their creativity and independence; explore new foods; learn about nutrition; enhance their math, reading and science skills; and, most importantly, spend valuable quality time with mom, dad and siblings.

Below are a few tips to help make kitchen time with your little one fun, safe and memorable:

• Always stress cleanliness and safety in the kitchen.
• Wash hands before, after and as-needed during the process.
• Provide your child with a sturdy, non-slip step stool to stand on so they are at your level.
• Use kid-friendly wood or plastic utensils.
• Let them choose their own apron or buy a plain one that they can personalize with fabric markers. Covering up will help cut down on the cleanup afterward.
• Keep sharp knives, graters and other dangerous tools/appliances away from small hands.
• Explain that only mom and dad can use the stove, oven and other electrical appliances.
• Supervise your child closely. Stay in the room until the cooking is complete. If you need to leave for some reason, take them with you.
• Include your child in the preparation.

Decide together what to make.
Read the recipe together thoroughly and gather all ingredients before beginning. Take them shopping with you for the ingredients and/or have them help select what you need from the cupboard.

Start out easy.
When first introducing your child to the joy of baking, use simple recipes with basic ingredients and uncomplicated instructions.


Box mixes are a great way to get started. They usually ask for only two or three added ingredients and provide easy-to-follow, detailed instructions right on the box.


As your child learns more about the cooking and baking process, feel free to introduce more complex recipes.

Let them do it.
This is a great learning opportunity for your little one, so let them measure and pour ingredients into the bowl. It’s not only a good math lesson, but also bolsters their confidence.

Taste and praise!
Learning to cook and bake should be a fun experience for your child, so always be enthusiastic about tasting their masterpiece and praise the effort and the outcome, no matter what. They’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment and be excited for their next cooking adventure!

Do you have a good story of cooking with your child? I'd love to hear it!

Abracadabra - Words Really Are Magic

Part Four: The Emotional Life of the Toddler

One of the key developmental accomplishments for toddlers is communication through language. As children move into the second year of life, they begin to grasp the concept that words stand for objects and alter the even more complex concept that words can also stand for ideas and feelings. Many things go into helping this process develop. The stream of language from loving caregivers around the child is the most important.

Extending Kindermusik activities into the home with home materials such as literature books and music CDs not only reinforces the development of language, but also provides a loving ritual between parent and child.

Also helpful is the opportunity to play with toys -- which, after all, are small representations of larger objects, or symbols. A doll standing for a real baby helps pave the way for a word standing for a real object. Exploration Time in Kindermusik class is one example of associating language with objects.

Another element that contributes to language development, of course, is music. As children "tune in" to the elements of pitch, rhythm, contour, repetition and variation, they are learning to focus on the key elements of language. They are also learning about the pleasurable possibilities inherent in the human voice, and about how sounds carry meaning. For example, in the Our Time curriculum, songs with vocal play are fun for children to sing, but are also helping them develop essential language skills. As children grasp these concepts, they fall in love with the magic of language and the joy of being able to communicate their thoughts and needs through speech.

Jr Rose Festival Parade

The day started off VERY wet!

It just poured as we were setting up for our families







Thank goodness for Husbands who help!

Miss Missy and her family

My husband Keith


The dads helped set up the tent, blow up balloons and more!








Lots of Balloons!

Watching the beautiful dancers while waiting for parade to start

Our Banner Holders


These little girls held the banner all through the parade and while waiting at various points through out the day, Yeah girls!!







Walking in the Parade

Ava and Angie


My little sweetie from Our Time class 
Who also happens to be my little cousin!

We had so much Fun, hope you'll join us next year!

The Quest for Control

Part Three: The Emotional World of the Toddler

The granddady of developmental theorists, Sigmund Freud, talked about the major task of toddlerhood as being the acquisition of control over toileting. While most developmental scholars now have a much wider view, it is still important to keep in mind how crucial the issue of devleoping control for a toddler–control over body functions, over physical activities, over feelings, and over the world around the toddler.

Wise parents and educators strike a blance between structure and clear expectations on the one hand, and avoiding unnecessary regimentation and sources of conflict on the other. Toddlers do best when they are invited and attracted into ctivities, and diverted into other activities, rather than required to participate in them. Happily, their incredible curiosity and motivation to learn makes thier easier when the activities in quesion are as nturally appealing as music and movement.

In Kindermusik Our Time, children are invited to participate in activities, but at no time is there an expectation of performance. Activities such as the object and instrument exploration in Our Time remove any performance expectations because the parent becomes the teacher in a playful interaction that is controlled by the child’s desire to participate.

How can I help my child in his/her development? Part 1

Here is a great post by my friend Vanessa about how to help our children in thier many levels of development.

That is one question many parents should ask themselves all the time. Parents have the most influence on their child’s development, but sometimes they don't know what to do. In order to know how you can help your child, first you need to know what areas are involved in their development. Let’s review 4 major areas.

Motor Development - A motor skill is a learned sequence of movements that combined, produce a smooth, efficient action in order to master a particular task. Motor skills can be divided in two areas: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills include the use of large muscles such as arms and legs. Gross motor skills make you move in different positions such as lifting the head, rolling over, sitting up, balancing, crawling, walking and jumping. It usually develops from top to bottom. Fine motor skills include the use of smaller muscles to manipulate small objects, transfer objects from hand to hand, and other various hand-eye coordination tasks. Fine motor skills may involve the use of very precise motor movement in order to achieve an especially delicate task to do something. Some examples of fine motor skills are using the pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger), picking up small objects, cutting, coloring, writing, or threading beads.

Cognitive Development - This is the are that develops the ability to learn new knowledge and to process, understand, and apply this knowledge to different ends. Developing this area helps a child improve his/her capacity for mental activities such as reasoning, interpreting, comparing and contrasting, evaluating, judging, inferring, predicting, sequencing, and visualizing. It also helps children master specific content knowledge relating to vocabulary, mathematics, and science.

Social-Emotional Development - This is the development of skills relating to how one interacts with other people and how one behaves oneself. The capacity for empathy, the understanding of social rules, and friendships are some of the skills a child will learn to master as they grow.

Communication Development - This is a process starting early in human life, when a person begins to acquire language by learning it as it is spoken or signed. Children's language development moves from simple to complex. Infants start communicating by crying but as the child gets older, new meanings and new associations are created and vocabulary increases as more words are learned.

Next time I’ll share specific ideas that parents can do to help their children in each one of these areas!

Credits!
vcabrera77 June 8, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Categories: Child Development
URL: http://wp.me/pPyYT-3Y
photo: http://www.kindermusik.com/

Did you learn something new today? Let us know!
Add a comment to this post

Hold Me and Let Me Go!

Part Two: The Emotional World of the Toddler

Another major task for toddlers that can confuse parents at first is resolving the conflict between their passionate desire for closeness to their parents--after all, they are still barely out of babyhood--and their equally fierce drive for independence. The mantra for many toddler is "Me DO" or as one toddler sputtered all day long, "Self!" Yet, when the going gets tough, the tough get going right back to mom's or dad's lap. Some call this the "rubber band" stage because it seems like the toddler is pulling outward and then snapping back.

Activities such as Music and Movement Story Time in the Our Time curriculum provide toddlers this opportunity. A child can move into the circle during Story Time and actively participate if he wishes, or he can stay close to mom or dad and listen to the story being rad. Given this security, most toddlers will naturally move to greater, and more appropriate, independence as they approach pre-school age.

The Emotional World of the Toddler: A Magical, Musical Place

An Introduction to the Emotional World of Toddlerhood: A Magical, Musical Place
by Melissa R. Johnson, Ph.D.

Toddlerhood is a time of life that challenges both developmental psychologists and parents with its fascinating mixture of change, growth, joy and frustration. Between the ages of 18 months and 3 years, the child leaves babyhood behind and emerges as a verbal and (relatively) competent pre-schooler. During this transition process, the changes that occur physically, cognitively, socially, emotionally, and in communication skills are amazing and, at times, overwhelming.

Toddlerhood has gained a reputation as being difficult because this is a period of tremendous energy and great capacity for movement and activity in the child, while at the same time it is the period when children are just barely beginning to acquire the rudiments of self-control and to accept the need for limits.

One of the most rewarding challenges for parents during this period is selecting activities that introduce the toddler to new learning experiences without overwhelming his or her capacity to adapt to change. This is particularly important because successful activities, like the ones presented in Kindermusik curricula, support and strengthen the parent-child relationship, while activities that are developmentally inappropriate can stress it further. Knowledge of some of the key emotional tasks of the toddler years can help increase the joy and reduce the frustration of working with this age group.

What Makes A Parent-Child Relationship Close?

Mom Wisdom comes in many forms. Mamapedia Voices proudly showcases useful and insightful posts by selected writers, from up-and-coming mom bloggers to well-known mom experts.



Photo by: Jerome Rothermund
June 7, 2010
Article by Ellen Galinsky of "Mind in the Making"



The following article is how to make a parent-child relationship close. I found this article to be very thought-provoking. It made me think about my relationship with my own mother. We were never very close and I was never able to be honest and communicate in an open way; I always thought that when I had a child I would never be that way. However, my mom and I become much closer after I adopted my son, we finally had something in common--we both were madly in love with my son!
          Now that my son is nine years old I've had plenty of years and opportunities to practice my resolution to provide open communication with my child. I'd like to say we have perfect open communication, but that wouldn't be totally true, but I do try to let him be totally honest with me and say whatever is on his mind, as long as it isn't too mean or "snotty". I also try to be open and honest with him at an appropriate level. We have fabulous conversations on the way to school in the morning--he talks about funny things that happen at school and about his fears and concerns. Hopefully during the years to come he will keep feeling safe to talk and confide in me especially as we approach the adolescent years.  After reading, please share your thoughts!

“Why do you think you are so close?”

“I had that kind of relationship with my own mother,” I answered. “I connect to my daughter the way my mother connected to me.”

“What did she do?” my daughter’s colleague asked.

“I was always free to tell her when things weren’t working between us and why,” I answered.

It would have been my mother’s birthday last week—so I have been thinking of her a lot. Her birthday is at the end of May—the time of year when the spring flowers have faded and the summer flowers are bursting forth. As the day of her birthday dawned, my sister and I wrote to each other about her—as we always do—remembering Mother’s birthdays in her 90s, eating “pink-and-yellow-rose decorated store-bought cake” until we all felt sick and fell asleep on the chairs that are now in our homes, not hers. We also wrote about how we continue to talk with her, even though she isn’t here.

But the conversation with my daughter’s colleague took me back to Mother when I was a rebellious and moody pre-teen, a time when I was prone to slam doors, not speak for hours or to yell, rather than talk. Like most pre-teens, I was not easy. And yet Mother navigated my moods with true grace. She would NOT listen to me if I were rude or mean. But if I could bring my complaints to her without being nasty, she would listen.

And so I did. I told her when she wasn’t being fair in the way she treated my sister and me. She told me that I had a point and she worked hard at changing. I told her that I desperately didn’t want to go to the school she had selected for me to attend. She told me that education was extremely important to her and I had to give it a chance. So I did. Throughout her life, I was able to talk to her about what mattered most to me. And throughout her life, she was able to talk to me about what mattered most to her.

I didn’t realize how unusual this was until I began spending the night with friends and saw that some of them weren’t able to talk to their mothers and fathers the way I was able to talk with my mother.

And I didn’t realize that not all kids are trusted and expected to be good until I went to the school Mother wanted me to attend and saw that this school didn’t really trust us; in fact, they expected us to do things that were wrong.

I remember looking at my Mother then with new-found respect. And when my own daughter stormed at me during her growing-up years, I tried hard to keep the door open to hearing her feelings. But I always continued my mother’s rule—strong feelings could be expressed and listened to as long as they were said in ways that weren’t mean and weren’t rude.

I now realize that my mother and I use the skill of perspective taking—attempting to understand what others think and feel without imposing our own perspectives on what’s on their minds. But I only realized this when I was researching and writing my latest book, Mind in the Making.

And my thirty-something-year-old daughter and I continue to talk with each other this way. She tells me what she thinks and feels and I tell her what I think and feel—many, many times a day.

So I thank my daughter for connecting me to her colleague and giving me the chance to reconsider closeness my closeness with my family across the generations. This is a conversation worthy of continuing and expanding.

If you have or had a particularly close relationship with a parent, what did he or she do to make it close? Or if you have a particularly close relationship with one or more of your children, what are you doing to foster that relationship?

Share your thoughts below- I’m very curious to hear!

We're so much more than music ...

Kindermusik educator Maria Condon holds 24 hour concert with Kindermusik children and helps raise 14,000 Euros for Haiti earthquake victims.

Maria Condon, Waterford's first Kindermusik educator (Waterford, Ireland, that is!) came up with the idea as a fundraiser for the earthquake victims from Haiti. The Concert was the first ever of its kind in the county and possibly in the whole of Ireland to the best of her knowledge. Maria's Village, Our Time and Young Child classes took part on the Sunday morning as well as all of her piano, voice, and flute students. Other local educators' students participated as well. It was a phenomenal success and has raised just under ?14,000 to date!

Maria stayed up for the whole 24 hours along with local piano teacher Catherine Fitzgerald and her "orchestra" of helpers! The Kindermusik kids part of the concert was a REAL treat, and they performed to a packed audience of 180 people. The concert was held in the newly built Town Hall Theatre.

"It was a fantastic showcase for Kindermusik," Maria exclaimed, and would have no hesitation in doing something similar again. It will be lovely for the Kindermusik children when they grow up and look back in years to come and know they went down in history of Ireland as the first Kindermusik classes ever to take part in the first 24 hour Charity concert. "We make a life by what we give" and it was a concert they will never forget.

For more info on Maria's programme see http://www.musicforkids.ie/. A big thank you to the E Hyland (http://www.creativeimages.ie/) who photographed the children and captured such an important event. Well done Maria and the Kindermusik children involved. All us us at Kindermusik International and Kindermusik UK/Ireland are very proud of you!

Music Training can Remodel the Brainstem and Improve Learning

Here is a great article about how music training can affect not only the cerebral cortex, but also the brain stem.  This is brand new research, scientists have always thought that the brainstem was fixed unchanging; however, this new research is proving this old idea wrong.  Please read below, it is a very inspiring article!  Tell me what you think after you've read it.

New research out of Northwestern University’s Neuroscience Laboratory drastically changes our understanding of the brain.

The study, to appear in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience reveals that musical training not only alters the wiring of the cortex of the brain but also the brainstem.

Classical neuroscience teaches that the brainstem (the very
bottom portion of the brain that attaches to the spinal cord) is
basically a fixed and unchanging structure. This study clearly
indicates otherwise.

Additionally, the study also shows that children exposed to musical training have better equipped auditory processing for speech sounds. Nina Kraus, senior author of the study notes:


Increasing music experience appears to benefit all children — whether musically exceptional or not — in a wide range of learning activities. Our findings underscore the pervasive impact of musical training on neurological development. Yet music classes are often among the first to be cut when school budgets get tight. That’s a mistake.

Interestingly, the team at Northwestern has found in previous research that some learning disabled children have abnormalities in their brainstem that lead to impaired processing of sound and that furthermore these deficits can be improved with auditory training.

"We’ve found that by playing music — an action thought of as a function of the neocortex — a person may actually be tuning the brainstem," says Kraus. "This suggests that the relationship between the brainstem and neocortex is a dynamic and reciprocal one and tells us that our basic sensory circuitry is more malleable than we previously thought."

http://www.smart-kit.com/s473/music-training-can-remodel-the-brainstem/

How To Have Fun This Summer!

Announcing: A Special Drop-In Class this Summer!

Please join us on Monday Mornings at 10:00 am Starting July 5th for special classes at my home studio for the summer: 5950 SE Kelly St, Portland! To sign up call 503-708-2827 today!

Bringing children of all ages together provides a dynamic and integrated learning experience for everyone. So we took favorite Kindermusik songs and activities like “Shake, Shake the Apple Tree” and “hammocking” and rolled them into a fun, family class where each child is welcomed and valued and family “together time” is celebrated and cherished.

Family Time Curriculum Description

Age Range: newborn through 7 years

Class Structure: 8 classes in a semester for the summer
Class Length: 45 minutes each week
Class Size: 6-7 families with at least one caregiver per family
Cost: Drop-in fee $5.00 per class or $40 for semester
Home Materials: including a Family Activity Guide, Hand and Finger Puppet, Two CDs of music from class, two instruments, and two literature books cost: $60.00

What Families Experience in Class:

• Singing -- From the first “Hello” song to the last “Goodbye,” exploring a variety of musical styles and genres leads children to find their own voice. Plus singing helps with memory and recall, physical development, creativity, and socialization.
• Assorted Movement -- Whether moving as a family, as a class, or as individuals, Family Time movement activities enhance coordination skills, create opportunities for imitation and exploration, and give everyone something to smile, rock, bounce, or dance about.
• Story Time -- Reading aloud to children stimulates their curiosity, expands their knowledge, and broadens their understanding of language.
• Family Jam -- Children as well as adults will love selecting a unique instrument and joining in one big class jam instrument play along session each week.
• Musical Concepts -- Fun engaging activities bring out the musicality in everyone, from the youngest member of the family to the oldest. Families learn more about music as they learn more about each other.
• Expert advice -- A Kindermusik educator explains how the musically based activities enhance each child’s complete development.

• Learning continues at home -- With the home materials, the learning and bonding continues at home with the child’s best teacher—the parent!

In Make Way for Music, families will sing, dance, and move their way through an exploration of several elements of music: beat and rhythm, concepts and contrasts (such as staccato and legato, high and low, the major scale, and arpeggios), the human voice, instrument families, and ensemble. They’ll engage in developmentally appropriate activities that the whole family can enjoy together, including fingerplays, songs, circle dances, story time, and family jam.

Sign Up Today!
Call 503-708-2827
Free set of egg shakers to all
who sign up for the semester!