'Can I play piano now?'

This is the question my son asked at 7:00 AM yesterday. He practiced 4times yesterday, happily.

We started his piano lesson one month ago, two 15-minute lessons perweek. As most parents discribed, it was a struggling--no willingness. My son is also shy and never wants to show anybody, including dad and mom, that he is not good at something. So we thought quitting, too.

Last thursday, he cried 1st time during the practice--it was too hard. I noticed that it was not really hard for him. He just didn't want to show mom and dad that he could not get it in one or two rounds of practice. It is his frustration. So I chatted with him and asked him to choose--either no time for TV (he likes to watch a lot) or 1 hour of piano practice+reading, he gets TV for 2 hours, watching whatever he wants as long as it is children program. He picked the later one.

At the same time I asked his mom not to push him hard--allowing him to make mistake. I also practiced side by side with him, making mistakes so he got a chance to correct me.

It has worked so far. Even this morning he wanted to practice. I told him that he had no time since it was a school day. He will do it this evening.

I have not seen him spending more time on TV than he normally does --as long as neighbors' kids come by, he goes out to play. We read together for 1hour and finished 7 small books yesterday. I am hoping we can continue this for a while until his next crying.:).

(9/12/05)