Why Kids Won't Practice - Part 3

To start off the New Year and many more topics to come, here's continuing the Practice Series - 22 Reasons Why Kids Won't Practice. To see past issues, click here.

Have you found any reasons that may apply to your family? Or maybe you recall a reason that you experienced in the past but have overcome? Bring your thoughts and experiences to Tuesday's parent education session!

#11 - Your child doesn't know how to practice, what to practice or why it is important
Children fully understand instant gratification. What they need to develop is a work ethic in order to achieve success. These are the life skills that they receive through Suzuki lessons. As hard as it may be sometimes, it is important to allow children to struggle. By struggling through a challenge, children learn how a bit of hard work can pay off and that just because something is difficult in the beginning, we have tools to make things easier and help us complete challenges.

#12 - Lack of parent involvement
If left up to the child, it is highly unlikely that they will ever initiate practice on their own. It is always the parents responsibility to organize, schedule and initiate practice. Students who practice alone too early on develop bad habits because they never know if they are doing something correctly or incorrectly. The more involved the parent, the more involved the child. If the parent doesn't express good practice habits, neither will the child. Suzuki lessons are designed for Parent, Teacher and Child to all work together to learn to play the violin; this is the Suzuki Triangle. The process will collapse without all sides supporting one another.

#13 - No results from practice
There are times where it seems like we hit a wall in our practice and nothing seems to be improving. When the teacher assigns the same thing every week, our motivation can start to wane. What we need to consider is are we doing everything teacher is asking us to do each week? Are we doing it at home the same as we do in lesson? Be honest and open about practice at home so that your teacher can deduce what needs to change with practice so we can see progress again. However, sometimes certain techniques or pieces just take longer and need a settling in time. There is nothing wrong with this and it is important to not be in such a rush to move on. The journey is what matters and sometimes the process of waiting and struggling through and not giving up on a spot can teach us way more than if it all came easily.

#14 - Inconsistency
This one is huge. Inconsistency in all areas of our life can create confusion and insecurity, especially in a child's world. When we are consistent, we are setting the expectation that this is the routine, this is the way things are, and there is no changing that. They may still fight you on it, but one way or another, the activity will still always happen. Children will except this and fall into the routine. If parents are inconsistent, children know they can get away with fussing because the parent hasn't put a high priority on the activity. Daily actions mean high priority and children understand this.