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[quote=Anonymous]I can speak to this as someone with a serious music kid.  Think weekend lessons at Julliard, top-tier music camps, musical instruments that cost over ten thousand dollars and need to be insured, practicing four to five hours a day, etc.

Do you think it is all worth it in the end for these parents?

The endless practices, games, tournaments, travel among most sports. The 5am swims in the cold dark winter. Fretting and obsessing over which travel club and team is the best. Which 8 year old female player is better than the other, faster than the other, stronger than the other. Fighting with coaches for more play time, obsessing over stats, grabbing for resources, yelling at refs....

At such an early age, could the kid REALLY want this? 
Yes.  Kids who are that good learn super fast and they know that they are already at a very high level, and they enjoy that feeling of mastery.  They are often frighteningly disciplined.

Very few make it to an elite athletic professional level and even then, is it so wonderful? 
In the end, our kid didn't go the conservatory route but he soloed with his college orchestra, contributed to the orchestra.  Has friends all over the world as a result of the music camps, competitions, got to travel rather extensively as a musician.

What is it all REALLY for? 
Here's my honest answer.  I was raised a similar way and it's really really great to have your kids busy and involved during those perilous teenaged years.  Less time and inclination to get into trouble in other ways.  THey learn really good skills in the areas of time management.

The discipline involved in playing an instrument at a high level (and presumably in doing a sport) translates well into the discipline needed to master math, engineering or a difficult foreign language.  (Theyre good at handling boredom and doing things that are repetitive.)  There are reasons why employers who don't actualy care about music or sports still like to see it on resumes -- because it says something about someone's ability to wake up early, work hard, compete, master multiple tasks, etc. (Unless of course they just faked the whole thing by posing on a rowing machine).[/quote]

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