Train the Brain One Way or Another
This is one reason why we believe piano lessons, voice lessons, violin or cello lessons -- any kind of music education is important for children.
Music lessons instill in children the habits and disciplines of excellence. If children can learn how to use their time to advance their personal skill in music from, say, the age of 7 to 10, when they hit their teenage years they have tools -- emotIonal tools -- that help them make better choices.
A recent story on NPR called "Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains" lays our the neurobiology of young brains. Children's brains develop in response to the choices that children make and the experiences that children have. When parents direct children toward better choices when they are young, the brain reinforces better choices as children age as it patterns those choices in the neuropathways that are formed in and through their experiences. Music lessons set up a certain trajectory that trains the brain for better choices.
A little effort and investment when a child is young, can secure the teenage brain and encourage its continued health development for a long life of successful living.
