In the spirit of trying to be more positive on this blog, may I present:
Piano lessons, the fantasy:
It's been a nice, leisurely morning with "late-start" school for the first time. Everybody is dressed and ready to go with an hour till school starts, so Mom decides this is a great time for Dallin's first piano lesson of the season. Sariah is contentedly eating breakfast at the table, and continues to immerse herself in her food for the 20 minutes needed for Dallin's lesson. Dallin is SO excited for this lesson--he's been looking forward to it for the weeks he's been on vacation! Mom and Dallin enjoy wonderful bonding time together while Dallin eagerly soaks up all of Mom's vast knowledge on the subject of playing The Eentsy Weentsy Spider. Dallin quickly grasps the concepts involved and begs to be able to play each line "just one more time!" He is so bummed that lesson time is over, and he has to sit around and do nothing waiting for school to start.
Well, now, wasn't that dull? I'm not sure this positive thing is for me after all! Wouldn't you rather read this and laugh your head off either 1) being glad it's not you or 2) being glad that someone else understands what it's like to be you?
Piano lessons, the reality:
It's been a nice, leisurely morning with "late-start" school for the first time. (Although Mom's kids don't know the meaning of the words sleep in. And Mom is walking around in a fog from the cold she's had for the past few days. Oh, and Mom's only had about 6 interrupted hours of sleep. Keep that one in mind.) Everybody is dressed and ready to go with an hour till school starts, so Mom decides this is a great time for Dallin's first piano lesson of the season. (Though when she broaches the subject, Dallin starts to cry and say how stupid piano lessons are and how he is never ever going to practice. He acquieses when he realizes that Mom isn't backing down, at least not this morning.) Sariah is contentedly eating breakfast at the table, but the second she realizes she's being left out, she crawls down and comes to sit on Mommy's lap while she tries to teach her oh-so-thrilled pupil. Dallin is SO not-excited for this lesson! He used to like piano, but ever since his older friend quit, he's wondering if it's really so cool for boys who love soccer, basketball, and baseball to love music too. He's been telling Mommy that he's quitting, and Mommy's been telling him that because he is so lucky to be her son, he doesn't get to make that choice until he's 18 years old.
Anyway, Mommy gets to juggle a clingy toddler who want to climb on the piano, open the lid when it needs to be shut, play songs of her own, and otherwise make noise and be the center of attention. While all this is going on in the foreground, she gets to try to be ultra-enthusiastic about the joys of music to a sulky 6-year-old who doesn't want to be there in the first place and thinks every little thing he has to try is TOO HARD.
And the Mommy starts wondering if this is really worth it. Maybe she should just let him do nothing but play sports for the rest of his life. But we can't give up this easily! Heavens, that would be failure!
Finally, Mommy loses it completely and starts yelling. REALLY LOUD. She even throws shoes at the wall, something which she has never done. What is the point of this??? This doesn't have to be so hard!!! This really, truly doesn't have to be so dang hard!!! It isn't that hard!!! (Yeah, she even told Sariah that she could handle giving Mom and Dallin 10 minutes of one-on-one time since she gets Mommy all to herself all day long.)
So the kids stare at Mommy like she's just gone nuts. Because she has. And the wild toddler suddenly becomes very quiet and goes to do something in the other room. And the 6-year-old musical prodigy calms down and actually makes it through 2 lines of The Eentsy Weentsy Spider. And piano lessons, for the first day, is over.
And now Mommy gets to cuddle her 2-year-old an extra, extra lot today while they talk about how Mommy getting so mad was scary.
And now it's even more urgent that Mommy come up with the coolest incentive/rewards program on the face of the earth to entice the 6-year-old with the belief that piano lessons are way cooler than soccer practice.
Piano lessons, the fantasy:
It's been a nice, leisurely morning with "late-start" school for the first time. Everybody is dressed and ready to go with an hour till school starts, so Mom decides this is a great time for Dallin's first piano lesson of the season. Sariah is contentedly eating breakfast at the table, and continues to immerse herself in her food for the 20 minutes needed for Dallin's lesson. Dallin is SO excited for this lesson--he's been looking forward to it for the weeks he's been on vacation! Mom and Dallin enjoy wonderful bonding time together while Dallin eagerly soaks up all of Mom's vast knowledge on the subject of playing The Eentsy Weentsy Spider. Dallin quickly grasps the concepts involved and begs to be able to play each line "just one more time!" He is so bummed that lesson time is over, and he has to sit around and do nothing waiting for school to start.
Well, now, wasn't that dull? I'm not sure this positive thing is for me after all! Wouldn't you rather read this and laugh your head off either 1) being glad it's not you or 2) being glad that someone else understands what it's like to be you?
Piano lessons, the reality:
It's been a nice, leisurely morning with "late-start" school for the first time. (Although Mom's kids don't know the meaning of the words sleep in. And Mom is walking around in a fog from the cold she's had for the past few days. Oh, and Mom's only had about 6 interrupted hours of sleep. Keep that one in mind.) Everybody is dressed and ready to go with an hour till school starts, so Mom decides this is a great time for Dallin's first piano lesson of the season. (Though when she broaches the subject, Dallin starts to cry and say how stupid piano lessons are and how he is never ever going to practice. He acquieses when he realizes that Mom isn't backing down, at least not this morning.) Sariah is contentedly eating breakfast at the table, but the second she realizes she's being left out, she crawls down and comes to sit on Mommy's lap while she tries to teach her oh-so-thrilled pupil. Dallin is SO not-excited for this lesson! He used to like piano, but ever since his older friend quit, he's wondering if it's really so cool for boys who love soccer, basketball, and baseball to love music too. He's been telling Mommy that he's quitting, and Mommy's been telling him that because he is so lucky to be her son, he doesn't get to make that choice until he's 18 years old.
Anyway, Mommy gets to juggle a clingy toddler who want to climb on the piano, open the lid when it needs to be shut, play songs of her own, and otherwise make noise and be the center of attention. While all this is going on in the foreground, she gets to try to be ultra-enthusiastic about the joys of music to a sulky 6-year-old who doesn't want to be there in the first place and thinks every little thing he has to try is TOO HARD.
And the Mommy starts wondering if this is really worth it. Maybe she should just let him do nothing but play sports for the rest of his life. But we can't give up this easily! Heavens, that would be failure!
Finally, Mommy loses it completely and starts yelling. REALLY LOUD. She even throws shoes at the wall, something which she has never done. What is the point of this??? This doesn't have to be so hard!!! This really, truly doesn't have to be so dang hard!!! It isn't that hard!!! (Yeah, she even told Sariah that she could handle giving Mom and Dallin 10 minutes of one-on-one time since she gets Mommy all to herself all day long.)
So the kids stare at Mommy like she's just gone nuts. Because she has. And the wild toddler suddenly becomes very quiet and goes to do something in the other room. And the 6-year-old musical prodigy calms down and actually makes it through 2 lines of The Eentsy Weentsy Spider. And piano lessons, for the first day, is over.
And now Mommy gets to cuddle her 2-year-old an extra, extra lot today while they talk about how Mommy getting so mad was scary.
And now it's even more urgent that Mommy come up with the coolest incentive/rewards program on the face of the earth to entice the 6-year-old with the belief that piano lessons are way cooler than soccer practice.
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