Young Parents Are Ditching This Bedtime Ritual and Its Hurting Their Kids

Young Parents Are Ditching This Bedtime gottesdienstliches brauchtum and Its Hurting Their Kids Just over one-third of new parents with kids under the age of five (38 percent) still sing lullabies at bedtime, according to a new YouGov poll of over 2,000 adults. But science suggests that they should be singing.A wealth of research, like one study out of the University of Montreal, indicates that lullabies are ultimately good for babies. Science suggests that songs like Rock-a-Bye Baby and Frre Jacques keep babies calm twice as long as talking to them, largely because music generally helps to regulate theemotions of both children and adults. And research from the Great Ormond Street Hospital shows that lullabies help to make children feel better.In fact, according to Sally Goddard-Blythe, director of the UKs Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, theyre also proven precursors to later educational success and emotional well-being. Anotzu sich study published by the National Liter acy Trust found that singing songs and rhymes to both babies and young children support reading development and language skills since they need to listen carefully to predict.The majority of those who do still sing to their children (70 percent) are 45 years of age or older, which means that millennial parents are the ones mostly phasing out of the bedtime ritual. Its not entirely their faults many of these new parents dont know the words to these traditional lullabies. While 87 percent of those over 65 know the words to Rock-a-Bye Baby, only 57 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds could sing the whole rhyme, according to a survey by Jakemans menthol throat and cough sweets.Perhaps all it takes is some new modern-day tunes.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about womens empowerment from around the world. You can follow her work on her blog, HerReport.org, and follow h er journeys on Instagram her_report,Twitterherreportand Facebook.