Learn with Kids

Since I became a mom, I started playing and learning with my son, not just about piano and violin, but also about attitudes in life.

Kids' behaviors can be a reflection of adults. The only difference is that kids are cuter. However, if parents spoil the cute innocent faces, the cute faces may turn disgusting when they grow up.

Sunday morning, Winston woke up early and before I could spot him he was already on the couch ready to play Wii. Richy just bought some more new game disk. And whenever there were new games, Winston would soon get addictive to it. It was hard to ask him to control his mind and the time in playing Wii. My experiences told me that sticking to the rules and not yielding to his going-to-cry face work. And it became easier time after time because he seemed to understand what I said although he tried to test my limit to his insistence every time.
So Winston obeyed my words to practice piano and violin instead of playing Wii first in the morning. While practicing violin, I found him rushing and absent-minded and we had to start over the same section again. Then I asked him to take a break for a short talk. He was quiet and listening.
I asked : What were you thinking when you were playing violin?
He said: Wii.
I asked again：What are you thinking now?
He was honest and said: Wii.
So, I asked：If you keep Wii in your mind, do you have space for learning and practicing your violin?
He said: No.
I said: Let's remove Wii from your brain now.
He said: OK.
So, I acted like using my hands to get something out of his brain, and said: Now forget the Wii. You should be able to concentrate now.

He told me: Mom, I got three parts in my brain. Here is for piano, here is for violin, and the back is for Wii. You should remove Wii from the back.

That was cute. I did as he said. And we finished practicing violin perfectly and efficiently. Also, we finished the piano practice very fast. The whole practice together only took less than an hour. For a six-year old kid, I consider that is good enough. And Winston realized being concentrated could make things go smoothly.

At last I told him: You should always do what you ought to do first and do whatever you like later. So, next time what is the order of things to do on Sunday morning?

He said: Breakfast, piano and violin, Wii....

So he ran for Wii. No blame!

Richy came out from the other room and told me: The words you just said are great and should apply to yourself.

I knew he meant that I should always do housework before blogging. And it is very true. When I said it out I was reminding myself at the same time. That is the cruel part about learning with kids.

After violin, piano, and Wii, we went out to kick soccer in the park. As usual, many were flying kites in the park but the wind made it difficult to fly kites this time. Winston and Richy played soccer while I was flying the kite. I could not believe that Winston could kick the ball well. He used to kick to the unwanted direction two weeks ago. He had learned soccer from his classmates. They even "kicked" basketball at school when teachers wanted them to practice throwing balls to the basket.

Kids just learn so fast in skills and attitudes.

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