Friday 19 / April / 2024
‘Love of beauty is taste but creation of beauty is art.’ And in a world as beautiful and diverse as ours wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t encourage our children to open their senses to all the beauty around? As the competition begins from a very young age to get into the perfect kindergarten or ideal school and prestigious university, as parents we tend to focus on getting the core subjects (like maths or science or languages) right. I’ve had many a discussion with other mummies about the new syllabus or the teaching methodology or the qualifications of the teacher or the new test that just got over recently.
Very rarely have I had a chat with a fellow parent about taking our kids to the Opera House for a show or pop over to Gallery Sarah for viewing the new exhibit. Growing up in a house full of doctors in India I remember visits to the Operation Theatre or the Out-patient Department at my mum’s hospital on holidays but I don’t remember going to visit an art museum or gallery or even seeing a show at the theatre; but that was different era altogether.
Now with so much at our disposal it’s truly a shame if we parents don’t encourage and inculcate a love for the arts in our children, both young and old. Research done by The National Endowment for Arts, USA proves that arts have a strong positive impact on the mental development of a child. Arts (which include theatre, music, literature, and visual arts) have a great impact on the social and emotional skills of children. They help in encouraging helping, sharing, and caring behaviours from a young age.
According to psychologist Jennifer Drake, Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College, the arts also help to regulate emotion, encourage creativity and bolster confidence in children. While the core school subjects engage the left hemisphere of the brain, arts engage the right hemisphere. And this is the part of the brain that coordinates our daily tasks, help us to create, teaches us to be intuitive and gauge the emotions of others and so on. So if you want your kids to have a well-rounded education then adding arts (in all its myriad forms) is an absolute must. Here are a few tips to get you started:
Art Galleries and Museums
Parents don’t plan a trip to the mall this weekend, take your little ones to an art gallery instead. There are plenty to choose from right here in Muscat. Head to Al Madina Gallery in MQ or Bait Muzna to get a dollop of Omani culture. Or call the Bait Al Zubair art gallery and plan a visit. Let your children roam around the works of established and new Omani artists at Fatma’s Gallery in Qurum. Let them explore these artistic spaces without you breathing over the shoulder. Allow them to take the lead and encourage them to ask plenty of questions. Read the descriptions to them and ask them their thoughts. Expose them to all forms of art — traditional, Omani, contemporary, and many more.
Lights, Camera, Action
Let your child be mesmerised by the stage. Fill their ears with music and prose flowing from a stage with passionate actors. The Royal Opera House Muscat is a fantastic place to start. With an array of shows to choose from we only need to click the mouse to land ourselves in those gorgeously plush seats inside one of the most spectacular opera houses in the region. The Opera House has special shows for families as well so you can take your younger children too. Experiment with your senses and your child’s; see what they enjoy. Is it ballet? Or a musical concert? Or opera? Perhaps some jazz? You won’t know unless you try it, right? Though the season is coming to a close there are still some dazzling performances you can still grab tickets for, so hurry! Let your child be awe-struck by the live music, lights, costumes, and characters.
Music and Dance
You don’t need to teach a child to love music and dance, it happens by instinct. Lullabies, rhymes, songs and so the journey begins. Take them for concerts and live shows. Do a karaoke for the next play date. Nudge them to shake a leg too, it’s ok if they dance funny no one’s judging; the idea is to have fun. Have a dance break between intense study sessions. Take your child for music lessons; let them explore the many instruments and pick one they like (you may like the violin but she wants drums, then so be it.).There are plenty of places that offer lessons from a young age. Unless you allow your child to explore the many facets of her personality she won’t know where her passion lies. Sign up for ballet lessons at the The Music Palace or take your infant to Jitterbugs to get him going. And there are plenty of music institutes for older kids as well.
Learning begins at home
Don’t have time to do all this? No worries, you can have all the fun right here at home. Create an Arts station — you just need any old table, lots of coloured papers, glitter, glue, child scissors, crayons and markers, and you are all set. Talk to them while they get their hands dirty and encourage them to draw or create whatever takes their fancy. Introduce them to different kinds of music. Sing along with them and show them your best moves. Have a dance session for 10-15 minutes every day, kinda like a Zumba class. Let’s not forget the culinary arts, please.
Download some kid-friendly recipes and try a new one every week and get them involved in it totally. Teach them how much fun it can be to create something from scratch and see it being devoured by others with relish. It improves their creativity, dexterity and problem-solving abilities. Swap your bedtime story for some poetry. Let them learn to love the music and rhyme of beautiful poetry right from infancy. Discover the artist inside your little one and let him flourish.
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