So nine-year-old Kate posed this question to me at her piano
lesson last night: “Why do grown-ups like to practice and kids don’t?”
“Because if music is something they want to do,” I answered,
“and they want to do it well, they know they have to practice. Besides, it’s
something different from most of the other work they have to do, so it’s
enjoyable for them.”
Kate - nine-year-old Kate - shot down my answer without
blinking. “I think you’re wrong,” she said. I have to admit that I was just a
tiny bit astounded by her audacity. “I want to be good at piano too,” she went
on, “but I don’t like to practice. It’s different from the rest of my homework,
but that doesn’t make practicing fun. So I don’t get it,” she said.
Hmmmm, I thought. I really don’t have a good answer for this
question. So I told Kate I’d have to do more thinking on this subject and
get back to her and in the meantime, maybe she could ask other people the same
question and let me know what she found out. “We’ll do some research on this
question,” I said.
Kate, satisfied with my response, nodded assertively, turned
the page in her lesson book and played the next song.
Here’s why I love Kate: she’s a thinker and I love a
thinker. I love a kid who doesn’t take the world at face value. I love a kid
who not only appreciates sarcasm and skepticism, but could also rival Andy
Rooney in curmudgeonly observations. The keen curiosity of a thinking child who
hasn’t allowed the educational system (or her peers or society in general) to
squash her inquisitive nature is a rare and beautiful thing.
Kate compels me to
think. That’s why I love Kate.
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