My children, 6 and 2, spend a good portion of their day playing music, hearing me practice, pounding at the piano, strumming the various stringed instruments (guitars, a few cuatros that I brought from Venezuela, odd instruments my older son occasionally makes with strings and chairs), shaking maracas (and in my two year old’s case, using the maracas to beat the guitar). We also listen to a lot of music throughout the day and listen to various styles: guitar music, piazzolla, nusrat fateh ali khan, orchestral music, piano music, beatles, unbearable music, instrumental music from south america, etc… I sing songs to both my children whenever it’s my turn to put them to bed (and my wife does, too). They have their favorites but I try to introduce new songs whenever I get a chance to learn one. It is hard to escape music making in this environment.

Nevertheless, my oldest son often prefers to daydream about robots and “giant metal men” than have guitar time and happily puts up a fuss. But we do it anyway. We often have a lot of fun going over activities and parts of the songs he’s learning. We also have some pretty frustrating moments, too. In the end, though, it is important to remain kind and realistic about what it means to practice. It is sometimes challenging, sometimes joyous, sometimes happy, sometimes sad. And it helps to have a musical environment to support you when things get difficult. Also, keeping in mind the long term goals or imagining the effect of what many, many years of consistent and caring guidance will have on your child’s musical experience helps, too!