Senior Instructor at Halifax Guitar Lessons
Isn’t it frustrating to try and find the best activity to put your child in? There are so many to pick from.
How do you know if all the activities available are equally good? And if not then which ones are better and how do you find that out? And specifically, which one is the best one for your child?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could find an activity that will benefit them now and also for the rest of their lives?
It may be difficult to believe but that is possible.
Why Is It Difficult To Find The Best Activity For Your Child?
It can be quite overwhelming to figure out the best path to take with your child’s activities because there are so many options available to you. There are hundreds and hundreds of possible options in so many different areas of life. Obviously your child can’t do them all.
Most people believe that sports are the best activity to put their child in. And even within that specific area there are dozens and dozens of possible choices.
Of course the area you live in and your personal interests as a family will usually narrow this down to something more specific. If you are in Europe it would likely be something like Futbol (soccer), in America it could be baseball and in Canada ice hockey.
What if your child does not like it? What if it is not a good fit for your family? You could put them into other sports and see which one that they are most interested in but that could take a lot of time and can become quite expensive.
You could wait for them to show interest in some specific sport as well but once again this could take a lot of time to find the right thing.
What if sports were not the best option available to your child? What if you found out there are other options available that will benefit your child in more ways and for a longer period of time?
Why Sports Are Not The Best Activity To Put Your Child Into
Sports do provide children some benefits but does it provide them with the most benefits? It can help them with general fitness, which can help them in several other areas, true. Depending on the sport it can also foster teamwork, leadership and other things.
But what else comes with those benefits? Are there some drawbacks? And if so what are they?
One of the major cons with sports is that your child is exposed to the potential risk of physical injuries. Then there are usually costly fees that need to be paid for large amounts of time up front and in most sports you have to participate in several fundraising drives. There is also likely expensive equipment you must buy that children grow out of quickly.
Add travel to and from local and regional games and tournaments. Also, children tend to quit and never play the sport again before they become adults so the benefits stop at that time.
Don’t get me wrong. Sports are definitely beneficial, even with the drawbacks. However they are not necessarily the best activity for your child if you look at their overall development now and for their future.
There is one better option that will help them today, tomorrow and for the rest of their lives.
Why Music And Specifically Guitar Is A Better Activity
There is large amount of research already available and more being published all the time that shows that learning a musical instrument has huge benefits for children now and for the rest of their lives.
And if your child were going to learn a musical instrument would it not make sense that they learn the one that provides the most benefits? Would it not make sense to learn the one that is the most versatile, portable, affordable, and socially popular?
How about learning the instrument that almost everyone loves and that is more likely to be picked up than any other instrument? The one that more people play past their teen years and tend to play their entire lives and continue to benefit from it?
Of course that would be the smartest thing to do. What instrument would that be? If you haven’t guessed yet I am talking about guitar. Most people do not keep playing baseball until they are 80 years old, but they definitely play guitar until then!
So imagine this. Your child is learning to play guitar. It is an instrument they will play for life, that they will love, that they will want to pick up more than any other instrument.
It will help them develop musically, socially, uses both sides of the brain, and will also help them be more creative.
On top of that research has shown that playing an instrument like guitar helps children develop many other skills outside of music that they can apply in school and in life. They were shown to have higher test scores in many academic subjects, had increased attention spans and were able to focus better than others.
Pretty impressive! So how should you have your child to learn to play guitar? Is there a way that is better than the others? Of course there is!
The Best Way For Your Child To Learn To Play Guitar
Like everything else I have said so far there is a way to learn to play guitar that is superior to all the others.
What you need to do is put them into guitar lessons. Take your time, do some research, and find a good teacher.
One that will work to your child’s strengths, that will know how to teach different learning styles, that creates a personal plan for them and then actively monitors their progress every step of the way.
It is a huge benefit if they have been trained in how to teach and specifically how to teach guitar. These guitar teachers are rare so if you find one hire them!
Am I saying you shouldn’t put your child in sports? Not really. What I am saying is that you should put them in the activity that will help them the most in life.
Learning to play guitar is the best way to accomplish that. If you want to and are able to put them in sports on top of that great, that will also benefit them. Just make sure that the priority is placed on their learning to play guitar because THAT will benefit them more then anything else.
Give your child a better chance to be successful in life. Have them learn to play guitar!