About Rebecca Eckler
Since becoming pregnant with her daughter Rowan, Canadian journalist and author Rebecca Eckler has penned three hilarious books, including the best-selling Knocked Up. Catch Rebecca’s weekly unique perspective on motherhood and single parenthood.
Do you ever wonder how piano teachers or math tutors or pretty much anyone who has to teach your child detailed, right versus wrong, does it? I have patience for a lot of things. I’m not a screamer if my daughter doesn’t get ready right away, or eats too slowly, or doesn’t want to get out of bed. I just ask again, and sometimes again, and then she’ll do it. But, my god, when it comes to practicing the piano with her, I literally have to bite my tongue.
If I were a drinker, which I’m not, I swear I’d have a glass of wine while I helped her practice piano, just to cut the edge off. My daughter has been taking piano lessons for a couple of years. But, in between her lessons, we never really practiced, until recently that is, when I told her: “We’re paying for lessons and there’s no point in you going to lessons unless you practice in between lessons.” So now, every night, I sit with her for twenty minutes, watching her small hands fumble across the keyboard. Mostly, during this time, I wonder how her piano teacher sits with her for thirty minutes. And not just with my child, but many, many children who are just learning to play the piano. I bow down to her.
I know that being a parent teaches you patience, but perhaps some people are just born with a patient gene. I don’t think her piano teacher has children. She looks way too young. So how is it that she can do this, while when it’s my own daughter, in my head I’m like No, That's a C not an E! And when practice time is over I thank god.
I do often feel proud when she gets all the notes in the two-line song correct. It just seems like such a S-L-O-W process. But I do think it’s important for children to learn how to read music. And so I will continue to practice with her and maybe get a drinking habit along the way. (Kidding.)
How do you parents deal with helping your children practice the piano? Do you find it trying? And how about you parents whose children play the oboe? Because wrong notes on a piano doesn’t sound all that great. But wrong notes on the oboe or a tuba? Dear god!
What are you most impatient about when it comes to your children? Share!