Caring for the Little Ones - Music and Babies

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One of the great things about working with infants and toddlers is that you are exposed to the elements of being human . . . the things that all human beings have in common. As children get older, the culture surrounding them differentiates them more and more; but children under three, "people without the shell" as I like to call them, behave in fairly predictable ways. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than with music.

When a very young child hears lively music, she'll stop and move her body from side to side in that endearing baby dance. It's a basic body response to rhythm and music. Children all over the world do this! They don't seem to be copying adult behavior. Something inside of them requires that they move in this way.

Music As Comfort

I have asked many groups of caregivers of infants what they do when the whole group gets ...