Lost her interest

I am having a difficult time keeping my daughters interest. She is 3 and 1/2 years old. She tried the Hot Cross buns with right hand...great. With left hand she doesn't want to use just one hand, she wants to use two fingers. I tried to encourage her but no.

I tried to do with both hands but she is not interested. She says that she is just a kid and kids can't do it. I have showed her online Youtube videos of the Soft Mozart May Recital...that hasn't helped either. I tried another song, Jingle bells but same problem. She refuses to use both hands. She is really disinterested. But I am seeing that a lot these days, she is disinterested in Math, reading....whatever i do with her .

I even learned twinkle twinkle and performed to Daddy she instead showed him that she can read Do, Re, Me out of the note cards .

I tried the different finger exercises, big sister, middle sister, little sister. But she doesn't want to do it with perfection. Just leaves things in the middle a lot.

We didn't participate in the recital as we jsut recently moved to all the way Canada from California. We have been trying to play the Soft Mozart for 2 weeks now. Initially, she was interested in all the puzzles of the software and now she is bored with them. She hates the Guess Key Game because she gets scared of teh spider that eats the fruit....this one is dad's fault. I don't know how but he instilled a fear on her when they were playing together.

So help please.....

Where is everyone at ? I no longer hear from all the Brillkids momies that purchased together except Manda. Great job I see that your kids are really keeping up. Awesome!

Thanks......sooo much in advance.

Hi Ariel

Great to hear from you! I have been really busy with returning to work, and we've all been ill, even the dog, so I haven't been so good at posting recently. I need to add an update for me at some point!

I don't have any really clever advice. My DD (3y 3m) has basically refused to play the songs or games for the past 6 months!

She is also quite a challenge to engage in a lot of early learning activities. She really wants to take the lead and to set the rules of the games that we play, so she is quite resistant to learning new concepts. I have to approach her sideways and try to capture her enthusiasm in some way, and sometimes she goes with it and sometimes she doesn't. For example, we have been reading a book on maths patterns - I wanted to get her threading some beads in a pattern but she wasn't keen. I noticed a picture in a book of some green and yellow beads and said, "Oh look! a Snake! Shall we make one too...?" Then she got all keen and we copied the pattern and I chased her around the living room with the snake

I realise this is not answering a musical question but maybe you can try to use this principle in some way with music? It might not be playing the piano but playing with the do re mi flashcards etc instead.

I have come to the conculusion that my DD is not currently developmentally ready to be playing SM or the games BUT this does not mean she never will be and does not mean I have given up. I'm just approaching it sideways and trying to keep patient. We are using little musician, I let her free play on our keyboard (which has labelled keys with Soft Mozart stickers), I have also placed these stickers on her toy piano which she loves to play by herself. I play many of the little musician chords and notes on the piano and sing the solfege notes.

The final (and I suspect most important) is that I'm playing piano myself and making sure she sees me. I have to make sure that I switch the view to 1 when she's coming in the room otherwise she wants to play on view 6 like mummy! I talk about when I'm learning a new piece that it seems difficult at the start, and about the importance of practice, how I must keep trying and not give up etc. I think a lot of this is trying to develop a mindset - if they are focused and concentrated then they will be able to sky rocket with playing!

Last week, she spontaneously asked to play "spider game" - the first time in many months I'm sure this is because she saw me playing. She scored 10 in a minute (not her best ever but still pleased), and was probably the most concentrated on the task that I have seen her. She's never asked again (and declines when I suggest it so I don't offer too much). But I do take hope from small things like this. If you look at the recital then many children are older - this doesn't mean there is no value in learning for a very young child but I think we must amend our expectations, there is no such things as steady progress!!

I was teaching my DD reading since she was 6 months and for much of the time I could not tell if she was learning anything at all! But now, although perhaps not as advanced as many of the Brillkids babies, she is amazing compared to friends, she can read words and sentences, decode and blend letter sounds, and best of all she thinks it is a fun game. We were playing a rhyming game at dinner and she was having such fun making up words to rhyme with various words and sounds.

Again, this isn't music, but what I have learned about early education is that it is about planting a seed, and cultivating with with fun, love and a LOT of patience! You may not see it grow outwardly for a long time, but it will grow and the most important is to try to enjoy the journey.

Keep us posted with your progress

Thanks soo much everyone for the ever sooo helpful suggestions. Sorry for getting back soo late, we went on a vacation for a week and then getting back to the routine is difficult.

Manda, Thanks, I will definately visit the download section and record some of those tunes and play them for my daughter, great idea that is. I really wish we could put more kid favorite tunes in teh SW. Looking forward for SM to win that Small Business Award

Lzp11, thanks also...always great to hear about your daughter. I definately see that if I learn she later or so tries the same things but alters them in her own way. I guess we'll keep patience and I am sure ours DDs will soon shine.

Hellene, thanks soo much for the quick and detailed replies. These words mean a lot esspecially coming from a piano teacher who has experiences with teaching little kids. So inspite of my delayed replied, I read them very closely the first day you posted.

She definately wants to be a good student, the other day she surprised me by trying Hot Cross Buns with Left hand, the way I was doing, she was trying with the correct fingers too. Her scores for both hands improved as well. (I always forget the exact numbers) She tried all the games for a while. I need to practice everyday so she does also.

Great Software... I also wish there was some way to change the background or change the characters for the kids. hint...a suggestion for next time

I hope to buy another one for my nephew, he is 7 years old and I was showing him some simple songs on the piano without the software and he was mastering them in no time. But for him I would like to get the software for when it is updated to add our favorite songs, any hints Hellene as to when that might be?

Thanks again,

Получила в подарок набор из разноцветных пластиковых кружочков, решила их использовать на уроке с мальчиком, который с удовольствием играет левой и не хочет играть правой рукой. Показала ему кружочки, это наши виртуальные музыкальные деньги, на заработанные 5 денежек, можешь купить у меня в "магазине"1 конфетку.Урок был потрясающим, играл двумя руками и не один раз, чтобы набрать нужное количество очков, точнее играть без ошибок ( Софт Моцарт)Затем спросил, что нужно, чтобы заработать сестрёнке Лидусе и маме по конфетке? Выучил ещё несколько песен. Мальчику 7 лет, раньше на все просьбы повторить второй раз песенку, играть отказывался, не хочу, не буду, не получается.