Code for Success

by Mandee Mostrom

As parents, we make a lot of calculated decisions- sometimes from day one- Breastmilk or bottle, cloth or disposable diapers, public, private, or homeschool. Music lessons or dance.

Then, the very next moment, we find ourselves making fly by the seat of our pants decisions- Handling that first tantrum at the grocery store, what's for lunch, or what to do when your baby strikes a fever for the first time.

And we can't forget those parenting moments when all we can do is make the decision and hope for the best, knowing no amount of deliberation or research will help us. For our family, those decision making moments are usually preceded by both parents looking at each other with eyebrows raised and shoulders shrugged. Our nonverbal code for "Heck if I know!"

At the end of the day, whether we're parents, grandparents, guardians, life coaches, or all of the above, each of us will come up with different answers to all of those difficult parenting decisions. The good news is that as long as we are doing our best and making our children feel loved and secure, there isn't one tried and true code for success when it comes to raising kids.

I'll be the first to admit that I am no expert in parenting. I'm right there in the trenches with you, and so are a few of our music teachers. We are all doing our best to do right by our kiddos.

One way my family has tried to glide our children down the path to success is through learning. We are huge fans of education and finding the best ways to get those neurons in the brain firing and making connections. That's just us, but sometimes... we can get a little carried away with this mindset.

I remember perusing a thrift store with my daughter when she was a toddler. I had heard somewhere that coding was becoming an essential part of education and learning for children of all ages. My husband loves computers and wanted to start learning to code in his free time, so when I saw a practically brand new children's book on coding, I snatched it up. Sure, the back of the book said it was for ages 8 and up, but as a new mom, I thought we couldn't go wrong with starting her young! *rolling my eyes at my former self*

Fast forward to a few years and few thousand mistakes later, and (shocker!) my daughter still hasn't learned to code. One thing led to another, and we found ourselves enrolling our kids in music lessons instead. Around that time, my wise, loving father sent me an article about a new MIT study on coding and music. Here's the article title: "Want Smarter Kids? Teach Music, Not Coding, According to MIT: The latest neuroscience shows that learning a musical instrument increases brain power."

My father knows me too well. The title alone was tantalizing. As I read, I discovered some fascinating stuff. They mentioned that popular opinion has said that coding supposedly improves math and language skills. On the flip side, through my time here at Passion Studios, I've been immersed in learning the benefits of music education. I've learned that music is a language, like English, Spanish, or Mandarin. It is a universal language.

Per the article, "However [with coding], that appears not to be the case, according to a December 2020 study conducted at MIT, which found that: 'Understanding computer code seems to be its own thing. It's not the same as language, and it's not the same as math and logic.' By contrast, what actually does increase other skills and brain power is teaching kids to play a musical instrument, according to a January 2021 study conducted at the University of Zürich and published in The Journal of Neuroscience."

If you want to see the findings for yourself, check out the link at the bottom of this page. The article is short, and there are plenty of sources linked within the article as well. Like I said, fascinating stuff! Now, I want to assure you that by no means am I trying to go against everything I said at the beginning of this blog post and tell you that putting a musical instrument in your child's hands will guarantee that child's future success. I'm not saying that piano lessons are the end all be all to your child's brain development either.

If you're reading this, you may already have your child or children enrolled in music lessons or at least you've considered it in the past. Or maybe your child was taking lessons at the studio, but you decided to bow out for a time. Either way, I want to leave you with clarity about what I am saying: At the end of the day, whether you teach your child how to code, speak Spanish, or play a musical instrument, your child is learning something new, and that is never a bad thing. Either way, your child's brain is making new connections. My question for you is, how do you want to connect with your child?