Today there’s no shortage of the ways that parents can schedule their kids. Multiple club sports, robotics teams, volunteering, coding programs are just some of the ways to fill every vacant slot of a family’s iCal. However, when the pandemic put a hard stop on enrichments giving us all a moment to reassess, many parents started wondering is more really, well, more? And if so, which enrichments merit a coveted spot on their children’s newly abbreviated schedule?
To help parents make sense of this conundrum, we propose some compelling research recently published in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Educational Psychology. Researchers from the University of British Colombia conducted a massive study of high school students and found that those who play a musical instrument score significantly higher in science, math and English than their non-musical peers. In fact, the students engaged in music lessons were a whole year ahead of their peers in the aforementioned subjects. Talk about a two-fer. Learning to play an instrument not only checks the extra-curricular box, but your well-rounded student will also perform remarkably better academically. How many enrichments can say that, huh?
So, some post pandemic parents may be trying to double down on scheduling their kids to make up for lost time. However, those that are looking to simplify their calendar would be well advised to have their offspring learn an instrument, first and foremost. Their child’s report card will thank them. And so might their sanity.
