Living Love & Logic Tip #76

Nick is excited about playing the trumpet. He dreams of entertaining others, being on stage, and receiving applause. But now he has to practice daily, alone in his room. Rats, he thinks, this isn't what I signed up for. Where's the fun in this? It doesn't take long for his enthusiasm to dwindle.

Before long, Nick loses interest and wants to quit his lessons. Mom asks, "What's the problem, Nick? You were so anxious to get started. I know that if you just keep practicing, you'll love playing in the band." When this doesn't work, she tries everything else she knows, with no results. He still wants to quit.

Mom came to me for help. "Jim, you are a musician. How did your mom keep you practicing when things got hard for you? I know that you're glad you didn't quit. I've heard you tell about how thankful you are to have your music."

I owe it to a wise mother who kept me excited about playing my horn. She didn't send me to my room to practice alone. I practiced in the kitchen while she prepared dinner so that she could often interrupt my playing, saying things like, "Stop, Jim. That's great! Play that again. I just love how you did that. That was so beautiful." She would ooh and aah about my efforts.

Even though she heard my mistakes, she seldom stopped me to correct them. She left the criticism for the teacher and she only raved about how much she loved my good notes. My practicing didn't become work. It was a time to show off, and it became the best time of my day.

I wrote this today for a couple of reasons. My mom's technique can apply to all sorts of different childhood endeavors. And I was reminded of this because I will be the featured euphonium soloist in an upcoming concert.

If you happen to live in the Denver area, come to the free concert on May 9th at 7:30 p.m. It will be held at Ralston Valley High School. If you can't attend, look for it on our YouTube channel.

As you can tell, my mother gave me a gift for a lifetime.

Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.

Jim Fay
To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!

Effects of Media

Hi everyone,

In my field of teaching children and their parents I am always learning new things (that I wish I knew when my kids were little!) Following is a very powerful TEDXRainier on the effect of media on children and brain development. It is a MUST see in my opinion.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis is a pediatrician, researcher and parent that shares:

"There are certain things we can do early on in our children's lives that enhance their ability to pay attention and certain things that we can do early on that actually impede them." "The more television children watch before age of 3 the more likely they were to actually have attention problems at school age. For each hour per day a child watches before age 3 it increases the potential by 10%, 2 hours equals 20%. Compared to a child who watches none. Cognitive stimulation reduced the chances by 30% " (like reading to them, taking them to a museum or singing to them.)

Television is not the only culprit. Recent studies are referring to it as any screen time ie; computers, games, etc., (yes, even educational games and music videos)

see: http://youtu.be/BoT7qH_uVNo

While some of our children are over the age of 3, brain development is on going and needs positive HUMAN interaction.

These statistics are worrisome, especially for young children, says Dr. JoAnn Deak, author of The Fantastic Elastic Brain. In the first 10 years of a child’s life, the brain is designed to learn by doing—by interacting directly with people and things. In terms of language development, brain growth is only impacted by in-person talking. Brain scans show that young kids do not learn at all from a screen. “Language-acquisition centers show no change when language is being received by video or audio,” says Dr. Deak. They do show a change when another person is in the room speaking with the child.

 

At HO4K we spend lots of time reading, playing, and singing with the students. (the 3 main things that reduce the chance of impeding attention span in children.

 

The following is from Work and Family Life...

No matter how old we are, we want to keep our brains sharp, right? When you read the front page article in this issue, you'll catch up on the latest brain research and find out what to do to keep your brain (and heart) going strong for as long as possible.

http://www.workandfamilylife.com/os/apr2013

Third Annual Screen-Free Week: April 29–May 5

What can we do about the excessive media trend? One thing is to take the third annual Screen-Free Week challenge from April 29 to May 5. It’s a national campaign to encourage families to turn off their TVs, computers and video games for seven days and to explore other ways to enjoy family time together. For more information, visit www.eyi.org/screenfree.

The "screen smart" message reminds us that there is indeed a life away from screens. Screen-Free Week is coordinated by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. See www.commercialfreechildhood.org.

 

I extend the challenge for the screen free week starting April 29 !!!! 

The benefits are worth the challenge....I see it everyday!

Ms. JoAnn

Who Has Rhythm?

 

When children have guided play time with instruments, they naturally start to create rhythmic patterns. The student above experimented with loud, soft, fast and hard movements. This created different sounds. She also was able to copy patterns using her instrument. What fun we have dancing and exploring with movement and music!

 

 

Our little ones also love to "play" the musical instruments. They are learning how to cooperatively share and take turns while creating music together. Above they are using hand-eye coordination and their motor skills to practice playing the instruments. As they continue to develop these skills, it is music to our ears!

 

Some of the Nevada Preschool State Standards addressed through these activities would be: Music and Movement1.PK.3aRecognize and select a variety of simple songs, finger plays, musical games, and musical activities alone and with others.
2.PK.1
Play and identify a variety of musical instruments.
2.PK.2Participate in a rhythm instrument band.
2.PK.4

Accompany simple music with rhythminstruments or clapping.

3.PK.1
Improvise simple songs and rhythmic patterns using voice, body or instrument.