Has anyone had a child who totally went off music only to come back to it?
I have a year three child who is musical and of her own accord added learning cello to piano last year and seemed to enjoy them both. (Onviously not always keen to diligently practise but that’s par for the course!) but
But this term she has been suffering from some anxiety related to other issues and started saying she wanted to give up all music! I felt strongly that this was to do with the broader anxieties so just took all pressure off - no exams, no strings group, super minimal and fun oriented practice - and that worked well for a while.
We got some really good advice re the anxiety from a child therapist and she seems much happier in herself generally and so I’m trying to up practice just a bit but she is super resistant! (Should add she has strong perfectionist and stubborn streaks too!) Were quite a musical family so admittedly this is important to me, but equally I do feel, knowing her, she will probably enjoy it again one she improves (she will happily play the pieces she can already play on the piano of her own accord - it’s the pressure of stuff she can’t yet do she hates I think). But also I’m very tired of having to tiptoe around it all ever so carefully and gently!
Thoughts welcome! (Please don’t assume from this that I’m some kind of crazy hot housing parent - I’m really not. My kids have a lot of free time. I’m just trying to ensure she doensnt drop stuff she likes out of fear of failure, but it’s hard to know how to persist.)