Gotta Love M&Ms

Ethan has been having a rough time with piano again lately. He loves his teacher and his lessons but he hates practicing. Every night he asks me what we do in the morning and then says, "And don't tell me piano because I already know I have to practice and I hate it!" Last Tuesday we had a really rough piano morning where Ethan, once again, told me that I'm a "wicked stepmother." I was frustrated and just didn't know what to do to help him.

My visiting teachers came over later that morning and we were talking about children taking piano lessons. One of my visiting teachers mentioned that her mother-in-law teaches her daughter and she uses M&Ms to help learn the notes. Inspired, I ran right out and bought a huge bag of M&Ms. Last night I told Ethan that I had a sweet surprise for piano practice. He was actually looking forward to it.

When he woke up this morning he was ready to go. He sat down, I pulled out the flashcards and the M&Ms. I put an M&M on each note that corresponded with a flashcard and we started. The rules were that if he could name and find the note, he could eat the M&M, but if he missed it, I would put that M&M back for next time. He only missed one! He was so happy and the rest of the practicing went great. He did so well and was so much more relaxed. He even gave a mini recital for Bryan before he left for work. I was so impressed and grateful to my visiting teacher for sharing her idea.

Tonight after dinner when Bryan left for Mutual, I saw Ethan by the piano. I asked him what he was doing and he told me, "I want to practice the piano some more. I beat up this piano today!" (That's his way of saying he did a good job.) And he played all his pieces another time without any help and did a great job! Yeah!!! Hopefully this will last.