It seems that every single child behavioural scientist has something to say about the effects of playing Mozart to babies and small children. Have there been any studies done about the effects of playing rock/alternative music to babies and small kids?
Mah boy loves himself some classic rock and I’m concerned I may be breaking him by accident.
I can’t imagine any way it would be bad unless you are cranking the volume to unhealthy levels.
I think recent stuff has said the Mozart effect was essentially BS.
But rock music apparently makes termites devour wood at 10x the efficiency of termites listening to no music, so maybe it might have some unknown effect on babies?
Not a specific answer to your question, but I heard the first episode of a CBC radio doc the other day about this sort of thing: The Hurried Infant. Very interesting stuff. There are lots of parents trying to hothouse their infants, with a billion dollar industry supporting them, and yet they may be doing more harm than good.
When you come home, you will find that your baby has gnawed its way out of the cradle.
I remember seeing some report on TV where it was said it was demonstrated that playing Mozart to milk-giving cows increased the quantity of milk they gave, because it made the cows feel more relaxed…
Correct. After seeing this post, I did a cursory journal search and found that the latest scientific consensus, based on a decent meta-analysis [Chabris, C. F. (1999). Prelude or requiem for the “Mozart Effect”? Nature, 400, 826-827.] is that the Mozart Effect doesn’t really exist. Interestingly it is also used as a springboard for another study on how “pop psychology” enters into the public consciousness, which was a really good read [Adrian, B., & Chip, H. (2004). The Mozart effect: Tracking the evolution of a scientific legend. British Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 605-623.]
If you’re not a student, you’ll probably have to visit a local university’s library and use their computer to access these journal articles. I’m fairly sure they’re behind a pay-wall.
So, yeah, go nuts, but realize that developing ears are more sensitive than yours and keep the volume down.
What about playing Kenny G for the cows? Would that relax them, or just get PETA all riled up?
My little brothers grew up on Ramones and rap music that I played in the car.
They seem fine to me shrug
If your kid likes a lot of Lynyrd and .38 Special, there’s probably a trailer park in his future. Other than that, no worries.
Fact: playing rock music (at low volumes) to crocodile hatchlings improves their growth rate and makes them less prone to stress. How this might apply to your son, Brendan, is not for me to say.
looks at name Do you really like crocodiles or something? :O
I advise you to read some of his past posts. He really really does.
Hello, you must be new here. My name is krayzkrok. That’s kray-z-krok. I occasionally post the odd insightful comment, but most of the time I just try to shoehorn crocodiles into the conversation. It’s a habit, I admit it, but it keeps me off the streets.
Hahaha, I am actually laughing to myself in real life after reading some of your posts. You aren’t lying ;D
Anyways, I don’t trust in the whole Mozart effect from the standpoint they present it. I do believe, though, that if your kids learn to like classical music rather than lame pop or modern rap, they will be smarter (causality? perhaps just correlation…). I personally listen to classical sometimes while doing homework. Not because I think it makes me smarter, but its the only thing I can listen to that does its job as background music and not something I would be likely to sing along with.
For krayzkrok, a piece of German… culture, I guess.
My kiddy (the uncircumcised one) loves it. (smiley)
I raised my boys on a steady dose of classic rock. I have no idea what it did for them, but it kept me sane.
All science is behind a pay-wall.
Oh, and in school, we heard a lot about how the Mozart Effect is BS. Also, speaking of BS, the show had a good episode on babies.
Second hand Smoke and Baby BS
(The part on babies is the second half)
Fortunately he has shown surprisingly few reptilian traits up until now.As for my other faults and failures as a human being and father the little dude is just going to have to make do like I did.
The irony of that just cracks me up. The sciences sure do love their ivory tower, especially if it has a stout gate.