What do I do when my child doesn't want to practice?

 If you have children who are taking any type of music lessons, then I'm sure you've struggled with this problem. We all want children to enjoy learning and playing their instrument, so how do you get them to sit and practice without forcing them? Unfortunately, there's no one right answer, but here are some things that may help.

 - Recognize the problem as early as possible. If you notice that your child is becoming less and less enthralled with practicing at home, the more quickly you do something about it the fewer fights you'll have.

 - Talk to your child about the situation. Why is practicing not as enjoyable? They'll usually have a good answer, like "it's too hard and frustrating." If this is the case, they may need some encouragement or to be shown their progress in the last few weeks by looking through old practice sheets. If boredom is a factor, then some things may need changed such as time of day, order of practice songs or to be pushed more in lessons, which brings up the next point.

 - Talk to your teacher about the situation. No, teachers don't like to hear that their students aren't happy about practicing at home, but even more, students don't like their teachers to hear that they're not happy about practicing at home. I can always be the bad guy in a situation like this because of the relationship I've built with my students.
 There are two drastic situations that I can think of. The firts was with a boy who was about 7 years old who refused to practice at home, and therefore was not progressing in lessons. His mom communicated this to me, and I talked to him about it. Unfortunately, the problems had begun quite a while before it had been brought to my attention so there were more reasons than I can even list. Eventually, I told the boy that by not practicing he was wasting his mom's money. It had never occurred to him that his mom paid for lessons because he had never seen her give me any money.
 The second situation was with a young girl who also fought practicing at home. This mom communicated very well with me by phone whenever they had a bad week and also discreetly told me about their practicing situation at home. I talked to the girl about it and suggested to her and her mom that the next time they had any problems at home to have the student call me to tell me why she didn't want to practice. I never got a call.

 - Make practicing fun. Young kids thrive on routine, but as they get older they need more variety to keep their attention. This is where you, the parent, get to be creative! It takes more effort on your part, but the outcome is well worth it. First consider what your child enjoys - competition, puzzles, games, rewards, praise, goals, etc. and use it to your advantage.
 Competition - compete with your child to see who can identify 7 different piano keys by letter or 7 different notes on a staff the fastest. Who can play "My Fair Lady" 5 times perfectly?

Beth identifies 7 different piano keys

 Puzzles - most of the songs in book 1 can be linked with each other by similar traits. See if your child can figure out the links. Here is one of many examples: starting with Mary Had a Little Lamb, "what other song starts on E?" Answer: French Children. Play French Children. "What other song has a 'funny animal' pattern in it?" Answer: Au Clair de la Lune. Play Au Clair. "What other song has an A in the RH melody?" Answer: London Bridge. Play London Bridge. "What other song has a G alberti?" Answers: Lightly Row, Long, Long Ago, Aunt Rhody. And so on.

 Games - you can incorporate any board game into a practice session, and you can make up other games specifically for practicing. Some games I use for review are picking from popsicle sticks with names of review songs on them, "going fishing" for review songs, and rolling dice with numbers correlating with the numbered songs in the book. To use a board game, simply attach sticky tack or tape to the game pieces so the board can be leaned onto the piano, and for every review song or repetition your child accomplishes, you each get a turn in the game.

Chutes and Ladders

 Rewards - there are many different levels of rewards that you can do for your child. Take your child's personality into careful consideration to know what will motivate most effectively. Young children may do better with immediate rewards while older children have the patience to earn towards bigger ones. A mom told me that they use things like a new bike, something they were going to buy for their child anyway, as a reward for practicing. You can use snacks or pennies during a practice session, sticker charts towards an ice-cream or pizza outing, or sticker charts towards something big at the end of the year, like tickets to an event, or a bike (or a puppy!)
 Praise - don't forget that children are constantly looking for your approval. If you're able to leave every practice session letting your child know that you're pleased with their accomplishments, or if it wasn't a great day, their efforts, this goes a long way in encouraging them.
 Goals - have immediate goals in practice session, like playing the melody of the new song perfectly twice, or playing all of French Children perfectly and slowly. Have short term goals like encouraging your child that once they've learned all of Lightly Row with alberti's then you get to move on to a new song. Have long term goals, like finishing Book 1 and doing a recital for friends and family, then moving on the Book 2! Always acknowledge when these goals have been accomplished, then set new ones.

 Visit this link for more great tips on helping your child effectively and happily practice at home: http://suzukiassociation.org/news/i-love-to-practice/.