Music And Screen Time for Children

Does Your Baby Like Dancing To The Music Too?

We've always understood that music has a strong, positive, and bringing-together impact on individuals. Additionally, music might improve cognitive and memory abilities. This is because listening to music alters the brain. A good number of endorphins (the happy hormone) can also be released. How much time the child spent watching the screen is called screen time and the screen may be a computer, Tab, TV, games, or smartphone. Too much screen time may harm the baby’s development. Let us read more about this.

Impact Of Music On Your Baby

Music is known to have a soothing effect on the human mind. Listening to music relieves stress. For babies, listening to music is good for their development. 

In fact, listening to music is beneficiary for the child in many ways, which include:

• Mood and anxiety: Music enhance the mood of your child. It is helpful to calm down and relax the baby. It promotes good sleep for your baby. Music is so relaxing that it is being used as adjunctive to dental or preoperative therapies.
• Motor coordination and Skills: Your baby develops fine motor skills, improved concentration, and learning.
• Emotional and social development: Listening to music stimulates the formation of chemicals in the brain, which are significant for the child's emotional development. The baby learns to understand, trust others, and display emotions.
• Language development: Music promotes your child's speech and vocabulary development. Listening makes things more understandable and easier to learn.

Is Screen Time Good Or Bad For The Baby?

Most of the development of your baby’s brain occurs in the first two years of his life. Your baby explores and learns mostly from his environment. Too much screen time has deleterious effects on your baby’s overall development. Therefore, it is important to limit the screen time of your little one, be it a mobile phone, TV, video games, or computer screens.

How Much Screen Time Is Acceptable?

As per the American Academy of Paediatrics, babies younger than 18 months, should have no screen time at all, except for family video calls. For ages 2 to 5, screen time should be limited to about 1 hour per day. Children above 5 years of age should be allowed 2 hours a day or less in front of the screens.

Children who spend a lot of time in front of screens may have many health or developmental problems. Some of which are:

• Difficulty focusing and paying attention.
• Delayed speech development or improper language formation.
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Impaired vision.
• Stiffness of neck or spine.
• Disturbed sleep.

How To Divert Your Child From Screen Time?

Ways by which you can distract your child from screens towards other activities are:

• Play: Involve your child to play with his toys, with friends, or even, you may play with your child.
• Physical Activities: Engage your child in any physical activity in the park, backyard, or beach. The child may run, jump, play, or ride a bicycle.
• Drawing and story time: Narrate a story or occupy your child with drawing or painting. Sing rhymes along with your child.
• Set an example: The child derives habits by observing his parents. If you limit your screen time or switch off the TV or phone when not in use, your child tends to follow the same.
• Accompany your child: Be sure to keep a watch over the content your child watches on screen. Prevent them from watching inappropriate things which can lead to the violent or aggressive performance of the child.

The best thing you can give your child is your time. Play with your child, cuddle him, talk to him, and engage in physical activities with your child. Spend quality time with your child and make his childhood a memorable one. For young children, real-world experiences are the most beneficial. Nothing on a screen can replace snuggling, talking, sharing a tale, or having fun with their beloved people.

Conclusion

Balancing music and screen time is key to a child's healthy development. While music fosters cognitive and emotional growth, excessive screen time can be detrimental. It's crucial for parents to regulate screen exposure and substitute it with interactive and physical activities that promote development and well-being.