Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Kids and Music

Why is it that kids love to play the piano, but hate to practice? My son takes piano lessons once a week and is quite good. I remind him to play often, ok, sort of often and he totally avoids the suggestion. I have pretty much refused to take the blame for his non-piano practicing. He is old enough to take responsibility for his non-compliance with extra-curricular activities...wait a minute. I am the one who is paying for all of this! It's a good thing he does do well, even without practice. And he does like his teacher and being at the actual lesson. I do believe music is an essential part of a kid's development so I guess I will put up with the practice issue and continue to pay for lessons. Next year he will be eligible to play saxophone in the school band so I am going to enjoy the smooth sounds of the piano as long as I can!

Monday, October 5, 2009

I have been contemplating starting a blog for a long time. Many years ago, I wrote a bunch of short essays on life with a bunch of boys in the house-I called it a "journal" back then. Now this type of writing is a "blog." So be it! I love to write and find that it is a good outlet for my creative side so here I am in the blogsphere. I envision "The Taming of the Zoo" as an outlet for the thousands of ideas that are floating around in my head at any given moment-from dealing with kids, surviving at work, to mid-life crises and the joys (and heartaches) of volunteering. I adore animals, dogs in particular-thus the "Zoo" reference-so many blogs will deal with being a pet owner and shelter volunteer. I hope you enjoy my musings, thanks for reading!