How do I motivate my child to practise the piano?

The daily tug-of-war - nagging, threats, yelling, emotional blackmail, coloured by the occasional flash of musical brilliance, but marked mostly by defiance, procrastination and painfully bad playing - is exhausting.

If not for her, then certainly for me.

I sometimes wonder if she would not be better off having a year off AMEB.

But then my logical mind protests:
"She'll be one year behind her peers!"
"She'll lose momentum and not want to learn piano anymore!"
"How will she be on track to get a music scholarship by Year 6 if she eventually decides she loves music?"

Tonight, Miss B was in a malleable mood.

So I asked her to rate her own effort as she played Minuet in G.

Each time, she gave herself a higher score than before. 6, then 7.5, then 9.75.

"How much more before you give yourself a ten?"

"Just this much more." She made her thumb and index finger into a circle.

Just for fun, I said "Why don't you try playing with your toes?"

You should have seen the gleam in her eyes, and the way her mouth tilted upwards.

She loves quirky challenges, you see.

And immediately she started playing Minuet with her right foot.

Learning persverance

Beth had her first swim training session on Tue, in preparation for the HX Primary School Swim Carnival selection trials on 22 Feb.

She had plenty of tales to tell afterward. Of how she nearly drowned, but no one noticed her struggling. How the kids behind (mainly the boys) kept pushing and overtaking. And how she had never swum so hard and so long in her life.

All that didn't stop her going back again on Thu.

This time, despite having to take frequent breaks to get her breath, she kept going and was one of the last ones out (she said they were doing sprints). I even had to go to the poolside to remind her about getting ready for school.

There's a couple of kids like her, who are not very strong at swimming but who are nevertheless giving the selection trials a go.

To Beth and all of them, I say: Well done for having a go!

Kumon: Student and Parent Requirements

The Good and Bad of School Hols

The school hols are upon me.

Yay to sleep-ins, lazy days with the kids, and no need to worry about what to pack for school lunches.

Nay to having the kids around me all day long, fighting with each other and driving me nuts with their endless need for interaction and entertainment.

This year, we are doing things a little bit differently.

First, we're not going away. That'll take some of the $ pressure off while I build my organics business.

Second, we're setting GOALS. For Beth especially.

My big goal for J is simple: getting her 100% off training pants by June. Shouldn't be too hard as she's already 90% there with her timing accuracy.

With Beth, I'm finding that she needs specific, measurable, achievable etc etc things to aim towards.

She's a bright girl with lots of potential. But we do need to work on her resilience, her attitude and her temperament.

So I've started listing some things for her to focus on in the new year.

Simple things like school awards, Principal's Reading Challenge, VIC Premier's Reading Challenge, knowing her times table by heart up to 12x12, playing through Books 1 to 4 of her Yamaha JMC in different keys...

Next year, she wants to take up gymnastics @ Gym Monkeys, which is run by one of the school mums (Zoe's mum Sue), self-defence and keep up with swim lessons, which she loves. She's doing really well under her swim instructor David who's from China. He is very firm with the frisky kids and very encouraging towards kids who display a positive learning attitude (like Beth and her pal Catherine, also from China).

We've also agreed on breaking up the hols with play dates, day trips and excursions to places that interest Beth, like Melbourne Museum/IMAX, Eureka Tower ... Beth has the list in her brown notebook.

Tomorrow is Bedtime Story Day/Dress-up Day, and Beth is going as Susan the Archer (Chronicles of Narnia). I got her a green T-shirt, green netball skirt, and Mandy kindly lent us a plastic bow and quiver of arrows and a lovely maroon velvet cape that can be tied around the neck. The Grade Ones get an icy pole at lunch as a special treat, and an afternoon snack while they watch a DVD.

CA and I often jest that we pay more school fees ($5k a year) and get less actual study (by Sg standards).

Letter from Santa

Some weeks ago, Beth - with a little help from Daddy - wrote a letter to Santa.

Then she waited ... and waited.

Still no sign of Santa.

Daddy was sure her letter had gotten lost enroute to Lapland.

Yesterday, the postie brought the best Christmas present of all - a reply from, erm, Canada.

Beth is dying to open the letter right now, but we keep telling her to save it for Christmas and her trip to Singapore.

Let's hope we can convince her of the importance of self-discipline.

Of Termites And Foundations And Learning The Keyboard

Beth has a tendency to give up at the slightest whiff of hardship.

I managed to get her on the keyboard today after much cajoling and then threatening. We got through one piece, but when it was her turn to play, she began crying, saying it was too hard. (Her job was to play with both hands, with the left hand making up two-note chords.)

This left-right coordination is of course not an overnight achievement, and I had to tell her a long story about how many years it had taken Mummy to learn the piano (17 years!) and how many hours of practice Grandaunty made me put in each day (4 hours!).

We talked about the parable of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand, and what happened when the rains came.

We talked about how a house is built from the foundation upwards, not from the roof downwards, and the importance of laying a good solid foundation.

We talked about what termites can do to timber.

At the end of all that, my voice was hoarse, but I was pleased that the message had been received with the right spirit. (Or so I thought.)

Beth promised to give it another try.

She sat down, hit the wrong notes, and promptly burst into tears.

I told her if it takes ten tries to get it right, that's what she has to do.

"I think I'll try a bit more," she sniffed.

She got it right on the next attempt.

"Good job Beth!"

"I think I'll try it section by section."

"What a clever idea! I'm proud of you for suggesting it."

At least she's willing to try.