Kids & Company Blog

Building Acceptance and Resilience in Our Children: Music as a Memory Device

Written for Kids & Company by Nancy Kopman

Songs can be powerful as a means to help children memorize facts, remember information and build vocabulary/sentence structure. They can also be a helpful reference tool for parents during emotionally charged moments. Have you ever found yourself wishing you had the words to help your child when they:

…make a mistake?

…seem overwhelmed?

…seem frustrated?

…need help building confidence?

While there is no “magic song” you can just turn on during stressful moments, there ARE songs you can enjoy exploring, discussing and practising together during peaceful times (driving in the car, during free play time, during a meal or at bedtime) to which you can refer during times when you need them most.

MAKING MISTAKES

"Mistakes are something we all make. Sometimes we don’t know how things will happen, but we learn from our mistakes, so next time we’ll do things differently … because we’ll know!”

It’s easy to read that sentiment, and it makes sense, but when you’re “in the moment”, how easy will it be to remember all of that?

It’s easier than you think, especially when you have a song up your sleeve. Those are the lyrics in the song “It’s a Mistake”, from “Senses”. The more you listen to it, the more those words plant themselves in your memory.

Not only will YOU remember those words, but your child will also, and at some point, they will be able to generate that positive self-talk independently.

HARD FEELINGS

“Everybody that you know feels hard feelings, but feelings come and feelings go.

When it’s happening, stop and say what it was that made you feel that way. Take a breath, close your eyes, too. Take some time to think and try to work through your hard feelings.”

These are the lyrics to “Hard Feelings”, from “Senses”. Comforting words a parent can use to guide and remind a child in the moment, and easier to refer to together if you both know the song from having listened to it together and discussing it.

Music has a way of making its way into our memories just as intensely as it gets into our hearts.

If you can use music to remember the days of the week and months of the year, you can also use it to remember how to self-regulate, no matter how old you are!

Here’s my Days of the Week song:

Here’s my Months of the Year song:

You can directly download Nancy’s educational songs here.

Follow Nancy on Instagram here @musicwithnancy.

 

 

Posted on: Thursday May 13th, 2021

Posted by: Kids & Company