Is it time to stop piano?

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I have been wondering (and kind of agonizing over) the same thing (re: quitting piano) and could use some advice.

My DS is 6, close to 7, and last year asked for piano lessons for his bday. I didn't feel like we could say no to that so we started last summer. We got a keyboard (which meant we couldn't do Levine, and like PP, I was kind of turned off by their take), started lessons, and he has been pretty into it....until about 3-4 weeks ago. He now resists practice, a lot, and wants to quit. He never argues about going to lessons and once he's there he's really engaged.

I can't tell if this is just a brief phase we should push through, or if this really means piano isn't for him. Like you, OP, we are not super-scheduled and in general we never do more than 1-2 activities per week. His teacher is very low-key and asks for about 15 minutes of practice per day. DS is decent but definitely not a prodigy--but I don't care about that, and neither does DH!

For us, it's more a question of, do you make your kid stick it out (at least until the 1-year mark, to which we're so close)? Or just give up, at least for now?

[Anonymous]

9:21 again to add, OP, if I didn't get frequent resistance about practicing, I would stick with it, no question! I think it's great for kids (and adults) to be able to play an instrument, or paint or draw, just for the outlet and the fun of it.

[Anonymous]

I wanted piano to be enjoyable for my child and not a competition or a college resume builder. As long as she enjoyed playing, we kept her in lessons. Sometimes she practiced a lot, sometimes she didn't, but she was always getting something out of it. We did let her quit briefly one time, but she asked to go back to it. No one was overly concerned about her phrasing or expression at age 10. She's not going to win any awards and isn't in lessons anymore at 17, but she still sits down to play, write, etc. and it's a good stress reliever.

[Anonymous]

to the PP who wonders about quitting before a year, I would honestly stick it out a bit. My DS is 13, a good piano player and has been playing since he was in kindergarten. I DO NOT push him and I want him to enjoy the piano. In the last 8 years of him playing, there have been weeks he plays a ton and weeks he plays very little---it evens out in my opinion and I would not refuse him lessons if he doesn't practice for a couple of weeks period. I would let him quit if he never practiced because you really have to enjoy it and get better. But, I'm also fine with it not being 30 minutes every day --- some days more, some days less is fine with me. He was busy this weekend and I don't think he sat down at the piano in three days. But I know he will tonight when he has some downtime.