Today I bring you an insightful quote by Haim Ginott, noted child psychologist and child therapist:
"The major obstacle to learning is fear: fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of appearing stupid. An effective teacher [or parent] makes it possible for each child to err with impunity. To remove fear is to invite attempt. To welcome mistakes is to encourage learning."
As you are getting back into a fall practice routine with you child, please remember to make mistakes a welcome occurance during practice time. This doesn't mean that you have to ignore mistakes or cheer them on with false praise. They just happen, and you deal with them. It's nothing personal. Mistakes are simply to notice, like you would notice a crumb on the counter that needs to be wiped. Mistakes are part of the learning process, and if welcomed can even enhance the learning process. Remove fear and you welcome learning.
Happy practicing!
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Hello Joseph, I really appreciate this post- my children shrivel if they think I'm going to hammer their mistakes- even when I don't think that's what I am doing! But I found a way to help with the little ones: to have a pretend panel of judges listening to them (my 3 figurines) and two helpful ones praise them for perfect playing, and one praises them for any mistakes. They think it is really funny- because at least someone is happy no matter what they do, and they are shocked at being encouraged by anyone to play sloppily! The ploy hardly ever backfires with them trying to please Mr. Opposite, instead they especially like it when he gets grumpy when they play perfectly. I outline this more clearly in my blog. I am a piano teacher, but more importantly, I am a piano mom!
ReplyDeleteFun idea! Thanks for sharing this. I am also glad to discover your blog.
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