Bit of an incentive...

Nathan and I were talking with friends recently when the father asked "what do you do when what you want for your child and know will be good for them becomes too much to deal with because they don't want to do it?" or something like that. We all had our own take on how to handle the situation and of course it really boils down to one thing...it depends on the situation.


Taylor has been taking piano since she was in Kindergarten. So for three years now she has been learning about notes, keys, time signatures and pedals. She loves it. You can see it in her eyes when she plays. I can hear little melodies floating through the air all day when she has plopped herself down just to play for a few minutes here and there.

What my little miss does not like is the practicing. It is so painful for both of us. What is even more painful is not the fact that she doesn't want to practice because the piece is difficult, no she doesn't want to practice because it is boring and she doesn't like it.

We moved the alarm clock up a half an hour to make up for dilly dallying. Six o'clock in the morning she is suppose to get up, get dressed including her hair and shoes, eat breakfast, brush her teeth and then practice the piano for a half an hour. We must leave the house by 7:20 a.m. to make it to the bus stop in time for her chauffeur to pick her up. You'd think an hour and twenty minutes would be plenty. I mean she is at the breakfast table right about the time I hit the snooze button for the first time, which is 6:10 a.m.

I crawl out of bed and the madness begins. Tears, followed by some more tears, with lots of encouraging words. I hate sending her off to school upset and seriously bend over backwards to make sure that doesn't happen. What I hate even more is that this can be prevented! She chooses this attitude.

No lie, this past Thursday she finally started to play when I informed her that she was going to practice for a full thirty minutes even if it meant being late to school and if she was late she was going to have to explain to her principal that she was late because she doesn't like practicing her piano. She asked if she was going to miss the bus and I told her "you already have". That bit of information
lit the fire under her because mysteriously she knew which hand position she was suppose to begin with and what the notes were.

Thursday is lesson day and guess what, she passed off every single song and was given new material. What I don't know is if her new teacher was taking it easy on her or if she really did well during her lesson. I'm leaning towards the latter of the two.

Going back to the original question, I'm torn because she really does love the piano. At this point in time she is just plum being lazy. I'm trying my hardest to balance her activities. I know she is tired, but what bothers me is how quickly she can turn the switch on and off. The second she decides to apply herself she will do it.

It truly comes down to what attitude she is going to choose. So how can I influence her attitude? What more can I do to help her mornings be happier? I seriously would stop the lessons if I knew I was having her do it more because of our desire than hers, but that isn't the case. She's been warned. We will not pay for piano lessons if she does not practice at least thirty minutes 5 times a week and she will not be allowed to swim with the team if she doesn't take piano lessons. Maybe this will be a bit of incentive to change that attitude.