When to quit piano if child balks at practicing?

[Anonymous]

(I also cross-posted this on the DCUM listserve, so apologies if you've seen it there as well; I am trying to cast a wide net for answers!)

Our six-year-old son has been taking piano lessons for one year. He initially asked for lessons; this isn't something we're pushing him to do, although we do strongly feel that if we are going to pay for lessons we don't want them to go to waste. For what it's worth, he is very talented at it (his teacher has told us this and one can also tell this just from listening, we're not just being proud parents, LOL) and he enjoys playing the songs he has mastered.

The problem is that it is a constant battle to get him to practice. He is only expected to practice five to ten minutes a day so it isn't as though it's too onerous, and he is in a private school where homework doesn't begin until 2nd grade so it's not as though he has other homework also. In other words, we don't think it is too much to ask him to practice piano for five to ten minutes a day if we are going to shell out for lessons.

So I guess my question is, at what point do we throw in the towel and cancel the lessons? Or is it developmentally normal to have to argue with him about practicing? FWIW, he says he wants to keep taking lessons. We have explained to him several times that if he isn't willing to practice then we will cancel lessons and that would be fine (in other words, we wouldn't be angry with him about it), but every time he says he does want to continue. Yet the next day he'll go back to arguing about it.

Any words of wisdom? Anyone else been in a similar situation?

[Anonymous]

I took lessons as a kid, and would not practice. It made my mother very frustrated. Finally, she explained that the weekly lesson was only a single piece of the whole puzzle, and that if I was not willing to put the puzzle together, that she was going to use those resources to help one of my siblings do something they wanted. Scarce resources, and all that. I continued not to practice, and the lessons went away. It helped me learn that when someone makes a sacrifice to do something for you, you need to keep your end of the bargain. You can always take a break and sign him up again later. However, this may be his way of saying that at this age he isn't all that interested. After all, if kids at that age are interested in something, they generally find the wherewithal to practice. As I'm sure you've guessed, I would throw in the towel - in my family, we remind the kids that they need to be responsible for meeting their commitments - that isn't my job. My job is to provide the tools and the opportunity - but only they can follow through.