As a young child I took piano lessons. Coming from a long line of musically inclined people, piano seemed like a given extra curricular activity for me.
Taking piano lessons meant two things had to occur: I had to practice and I had to have some sense of musicality.
Musicality was not my spiritual gift and I am pretty sure I complained every time I had to sit down and practice. Needless to say, piano was not a long-lived affair for me.
After my piano stint, I did go on to participate in other activities. I swam competitively, which taught me that one had to devote a lot of time and energy to practice. I was on a bible-based quiz team for many years and learned the importance of self-motivation and practice.
My own children have both come to the age where they are starting to understand the value if practice. I try to point out to them that no athlete, no successful inventor, no academic scholar was simply bestowed their particular talent without having to work hard to sharpen and refine that talent into something of purpose.
The boy attained Memory Master again this year. This did not come from merely sitting in on our hour of Classical Conversations lessons we have each school day. Rather this came by hard work and personal effort put forth. He had to practice long and hard to be able to memorize such a vast amount of material.
He recently started taking baseball training classes. He realizes that if he wants to get better at these skills he must practice in between classes. An hour a week does not make one a decent ball player.
The girl has learned about the value of practice as well. Dancing is one of her passions. She is very aware when other dancers can do something that she has yet to master. Rather than letting her succumb to feelings of defeat, we encourage her to practice those skills. A while back she was really wanting to learn how to do the splits. Fortunately she is flexible and has loose hips so this was an attainable goal for her. I encouraged her to stretch and practice daily. Within weeks of doing so (in secret…likely so I would not know she was following my advice) she was able to do the splits. Now she practices daily in order to maintain that flexibility.
In a generation of entitlement, I believe it is important for us as parents to teach the value if practice and self-motivation. How do you encourage practice among your children?
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