The Quitter Philosophy

I'm sure this is not a popular philosophy, but it's worked with my family so far. At least in the realms of music. It's no big secret that I'm not a very disciplined person, therefore it makes it difficult to insist on my kids being that way. Of course, we encourage them to be, but I'm not good at making them be. That takes a lot of discipline!! So far, all of my kids who are old enough have played some sort of musical instrument. Chelsey, Nick and Rhett played Viola, Stephen and Brooklyn played the cello and Whitley played the flute. Notice they all end in -ed. Brooklyn is actually still playing, but the rest have quit. Stephen would have continued, but the orchestra teacher was awful, no seriously...awful woman. Chelsey had to choose between viola and choir. She chose choir. Whitley just never quite got the hang of flute and really loved to sing anyway. Nick hated it from day one. Rhett is Rhett.

Now, I believe that if you start something..you finish it. We have kept to that rule, but if you don't want to continue, then you don't have to. There are only a few things that I feel are so beneficial in life that it's worth constant struggle and contention. Playing an instrument isn't one of them. What brings this on today is that Rhett is now trying to get the orchestra teacher ( a new one) to let him start taking again. He hasn't played for a year. What I believe is that if I would have insisted on him sticking with it, we would have spent a lot of time fighting and he wouldn't be begging to start again. Chelsey, Whitley, Stephen and Brooklyn have all taught themselves to play the piano. Very basic mind you, but they enjoy sitting and figuring out songs that are fun to them. It's been great to have soft music being played from the other room. No banging, actual music. Stephen, Whitley and Chelsey have all gotten very involved in choir which has been a great blessing to them in many ways. So thus far they have all stayed close to music, just in different ways then what we had intended or pre-planned for them.

I know everyone places a different level of importance on things and I'm not saying this works for all kids, but for us...letting it be a choice has worked well. I want them to love music, but I want them to love it on their terms.