Nurture what's already there
Charley recently got into playing the piano. Originally we thought he had no real interest in music. He’s more of a footballer. Running, sweating, chasing.
His brother is signed up at the music school and goes weekly. What we didn’t notice was, that after Rudi got back from learning stuff in school, he’d sit down with Charley and teach him at home in his room.
Then we started to notice that every time Charley walked by the keyboard at home, he would sit down and play a little. He did not know any notes or finger placements or any rules. He just simply enjoyed the process of playing. Unburdened.
So we signed him up to music school too.
Last weekend he had his first recital. In front of 150 people. (video below)
While he was sitting there, his little fingers shaking from nerves, I felt proud and also a little emotional. I made a promise to myself: I will be more curious with these kids and I will observe “whats there”, what are things that they already love doing and enjoy effortlessly. And I will not be stingy spending time, effort, attention and money to nurture that.