Here are some quick tips to help families get into a productive, positive daily groove.
Routines bring motivation, productivity, comfort, and even relaxation. Musical pre-routines are the ultimate secret to jumpstarting and securing healthy morning and evening tasks. Here’s why…
Musical Pre-Routines Set Up Success
For toddlers and older children, resistance to task completion often involves cortisol levels, or the stress hormone. The stress of leaving home for the day or having to give up fun for nap or bedtime is real, and one way to bring those levels under control is by engaging in shared music making.
While stress levels decrease, it’s important to increase the happy chemicals—oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine. That scale-like swap gives families a sense of connection and puts everyone in an ideal mindset for completing daily routines and rituals.
Morning Pre-Routine Musical Play
Predictable routines can help to turn the typical chaos of school/work mornings into more of a comforting pattern. It’s not about taking away freedom or choice, it’s about funneling everyone’s energies into productive activities. After all, each person has the same things to accomplish: wake up, eat something, brush teeth, get dressed, gather belongings, and head out the door.
At Kindermusik®, we often think about life from a musical perspective. A busy morning should resemble a well-executed dance, with everyone doing the right moves at the right time. And the best way to set the mood for a dance? A happy tune, of course! Here are some bouncy Kindermusik tunes you might consider playing each morning. They will quickly make the annoying chime of your alarm a dim memory.
Buenos Días
Who’s That Looking in the Mirror?
Morning Sun Has Risen
A morning song can become the glue that holds your family together as you busily accomplish what needs to be done. It’s a predictable cue that gets everyone on the right track as they begin the day, and its familiarity immediately unlocks the comfort associated with routine.
Evening Pre-Routine Musical Play
Whereas school/workday morning routines are focused on getting everyone up and looking forward to what’s ahead, evening routines are centered on winding down the day. Tiredness and grumpiness often go hand-in-hand, and one wonderful thing music can do is shift that mood to something a bit, ummm, nicer.
When it’s time to clean up, pick up, and set things in order, try playing these songs to motivate everyone to pitch in more happily.
Welcome to Our House
Do As I’m Doing
And when it’s time to wind down and snuggle comfortably in bed? Predictable lullabies cue the heart, body, and mind to enter a state of rest.
For babies and young children, music is a stronger sleep aid than white noise, and it has been scientifically proven that lullabies can promote relaxation by reducing heart rates and lowering anxiety levels. One of the most interesting findings of this UK study notes that live performance (as in, an adult singing the lullaby to the child) is much more effective at fostering relaxation than the act of tapping “play” on a device.
So, even though you can turn up our version of the familiar “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” song here, we encourage you to actually sing along with it (and later without a track in the background), letting your child see your reassuring face.
Twinkle, Twinkle
Repetition Fuels Lasting Success
Early brain development depends on repetition for proper neural connections. So, now that you’ve got some musical pre-routine tools, repeat them and give them some time to stick. Then, watch anxiety lower, tricky transitions run smoother, and joy increase through the power of joyful musical play.
Want more ideas for boosting rituals and routines? Find a class near you, or get more information about Kindermusik’s offerings for all early learning environments at Kindermusik.com.