One thing that parents ask me all the time is, “How to I get my kids to practice?” Now, this may not pertain to you in particular (maybe your kids don’t play an instrument yet, or maybe you don’t have this problem with your children; or maybe you don’t even have any kids), but I suggest you read on anyway because you never know when this information will come in handy.

My answer is always the same. The solution:

Pay them.

The look an the parent’s face is usually shock, or at least puzzled. “Pay them?” Yes. Pay them. Not every child that is interested in playing an instrument will ALSO be interested in putting in the time to learn it. This is of course true with anything that you’re trying to teach your children. So make it something different. By adding money to the mix you’re making their practice not something that they have to do, but rather something that they get to do. And if you think about it, you’re teaching them more than a musical instrument; you’re teaching them the value of earning what they want (both the musical talent and money), the value of the dollar itself, and how everything worth having is worth working for. You’re multitasking a lot of great life-lessons with this simple concept. Just pay them for their time. It’s not such a foreign concept because you live your own life by it. Why not teach it to your children with something fun like music?

When I was four years old I got paid $5 a week to practice piano for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. This was AMAZING to me, because I always had bread. I could buy my own toys and candy, or whatever I wanted, with my own money that I had earned. This was a very important value that my mother and father instilled upon me at a young age. But what also did I get out of it? Well, check this out. By the time I was seven I got a drum set, and so the weekly allowance went up an additional $5 per week for another 30 minutes of practice on this other instrument. At the age of eight it was another $5 per week for practicing bass each day for a half hour. Do you see where this went? I was nine years old, making $15 a week, thinking that my parents were suckers for giving away money so easily.

But what was really happening was this: I was practicing and hour and a half daily on three different instruments, Monday through Friday. With no complaints, quarrels, or arguments. I remember even bartering with my folks, asking if I could practice more for a raise. Beyond teaching me how a “job” works and the exchange of cash money for labor, my parents taught me that practicing music ALWAYS has a reward. I love practicing and I wish I could do more of it (though I don’t get paid directly to do it anymore).

So try it out. If you want your kids to appreciate and love music the way that you do, just pay em. You’ll thank me later. However, this does come at a cost. I’m 26 years old and I don’t make my bed, clean my room, and I’m bad at remembering to take out the trash/do the dishes/any other chores that my other friends were doing instead of practicing. Perhaps my wife wishes that my parents gave me normal chores instead…

No ones perfect, I guess 🙂