Sports and Music: Both Good for Kids
Both sports and music programs offer many benefits and help to prepare children for future success.
The benefits of sports
Participating in a sports program gets your child more active and healthier! The activity helps reduce the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Think about these other important benefits:
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Improving physical skills like coordination and balance
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Learning teamwork
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Learning discipline
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Learning to focus on a goal
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Experiencing the rewards of participation
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Having fun
The benefits of music
Participating in a music program provides many of the same benefits as participating in sports. Teamwork, discipline, focus, and fun are just some of them. A music program will also improve your child's thinking skills and physical coordination.
Other important benefits include:
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Learning creative thinking
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Learning to express feelings and emotions
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Improving language and reasoning skills
Some studies show music programs can raise intelligence (like IQ) and college entrance test (like SAT) scores. Music can also improve something called spatial intelligence. This important ability helps with seeing the world and making sense out of what is seen.
One study found that children who took music lessons for 1 year increased their IQ scores by 2.5 points compared with children who didn’t have music lessons. The study suggests that the increase in IQ may be because of the focused attention, memorization, and concentration skills needed to study music.
Music and other art programs help to increase your child's imagination and the confidence needed to make decisions on his or her own.
Music and sports: a complete education
Your child needs more than the basics to be successful. A full and productive life also requires social skills, discipline, cooperation, and creative thinking. These are all learned from the training that sports and music programs offer.
And there is one more benefit of sports and music. They can really be fun, not just for your child, but also for the whole family.
Online Medical Reviewer:
Holloway, Beth, RN, M.Ed.
Date Last Reviewed:
2/1/2021
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