Your Child's First Radio
I can still remember my first radio – it was a small, pink boom box. I listened to my favorite radio stations and cassette tapes on it until it wore out (the antenna ended up breaking off). Purchasing a kid friendly radio allows your children the freedom to choose their own music to play. They can also carry the radio around without you having to worry about them dropping it and breaking it. Kids radios tend to be made out of plastic, so they are fairly durable.
Another advantage to buying radios made specifically for kids is that they tend to have larger buttons for your child’s small fingers to push. Instead of (or along with) words, there are symbols so your child can figure out how to use the device.
Radios for kids come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. You can even buy specifically themed boom boxes and radios for your kids. If your children like Barbie, you can get a Barbie boom box. Or if your kids like Sponge Bob Square Pants, they make a radio in the shape of Sponge Bob.
Listening to Music
There is a lot of great music for kids to listen to. You can purchase tapes and CDs full of lullabies, fun rhymes, and other kid songs. But you can also buy other music you might want your kids to listen to: classical, appropriate rock, eclectic, opera. I used to listen to excellent Cuban music with children I used to nanny.
Some children like to listen to music as they fall asleep, so you can leave a child’s boom box next to their bed. You can also introduce your children to foreign languages by playing music of other languages. My cousins used to listen to and sing along to both German and Spanish songs.
Music isn’t only for listening to though. Kids love to dance, so providing music will let your children have something to cut loose to. Let them work out their excessive energy by sweating it up to some tunes. Plus, you will be totally entertained watching them, if you don’t end up joining in.
Listening to Stories
The radios and boom boxes don’t only have to be used for music. You can purchase audio books and story collections for your children to listen to. They make great collections of stories, like Little Bear, or nursery rhymes. Even simple exercises, repeating the alphabet or numbers, can be fun for your kids to listen to. You can purchase these in other languages too, so you can use this as another way to expose your children to music.
Safety for Kids
Although boom boxes and radios made for children tend to be safer than regular electronics, you still want to supervise their use. Kids have a habit of taking things apart, so don’t think they won’t try to do so with their boom boxes. As well, if you have a CD player for your kids, they could take the CDs out to play with. When shopping for your child’s first radio, make sure it has a battery compartment that is childproof. This means you will probably have to use a screwdriver to get it open, but that also means your kids won’t be able to open it with their fingers. If you get a tape player of CD player, make sure the opening parts aren’t sharp or heavy—you don’t want any little, squished fingers. As well, some of these boom boxes make it easy for kids to carry, but not easy for them to get into the CD part.
Have fun with your musical kids!
