“My Bonnie lies over the ocean, my Bonnie lies over the sea…”
You are singing this famous lullaby in your head right now aren’t you? Did you ever take a moment to think about how natural it is for us to sing to babies? Babies are wired for communication from the moment they are born, able to identify and respond to the sound of their own mother’s voice over other women’s voices as young as just three days old. Even the way we speak to young infants has a singing quality.
This kind of musical communication actually nurtures brain development in infants. Babies’ brains are amazingly plastic and malleable in their early months. Positive communication and bonding experiences with Mom and Dad at a very young age not only strengthen the parent/child bond, but actually enhance neural connections that will support musical and other kinds of development later in life. Exposure to positive stimuli such as purposeful touch, visual and auditory stimulation through a parent singing to and with her baby and the bonding that occurs when families sing and play together help to release chemicals that lower a baby’s heart rate, blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol. This has shown to correlate with an increased ability to self-regulate later in life, as well as improve sleep for babies right now. That sounds good, right?
As fascinating as all this science is, it can overshadow the fact that singing and dancing with your baby is FUN! Children love the undivided attention from their important grown-ups and adults enjoy watching their children respond to their voice and touch. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to join a community of families that can make music or practice yoga together with their babies? By enrolling in a weekly class you can meet other families with children in your community and engage in the unique kind of bonding that can only happen when people sing and move together! Sing and Swing offers the internationally recognized Music Together® curriculum and Sing and Stretch Baby Yoga to families on the east and west side of Cleveland.
Music Together is offered as a mixed ages class for children birth-five, or in a special Babies Class for 0-8 month olds. Sessions are 10 weeks and run Fall/Winter/Spring, plus a 6-week summer session. Families receive a songbook, cds and digital download of all the music we cover in each session, with new music every session. The Music Together curriculum is research based and developmentally appropriate to support your child’s music development in a play based, fun environment.
Sing and Stretch Baby Yoga is a 6-week course for babies up to crawling that teaches parents age appropriate yoga positions for their young baby to support and encourage brain development as well as physical development. Babies are natural yogis and enjoy the positions and the intense one-on-one attention from caregivers.
Learn more about these programs, view schedules and pricing, and register for a free demonstration class on our website: www.singandswingneo.org. You can also contact Jenny Woda, Co-Director, with questions at director@singandswing.org or 216-321-SING (7464)
