How Do I Get My 7 Year Old to Practice Guitar?
Your 7 year old will practice guitar if their practice time is unique and special. In other words, if they have a special time, place, and song to practice, the practice time becomes a reward in itself.
Are you a Strict Parent?
Let’s Face It, children do not have the necessary self discipline to set up their own practice routine. Actually, many adults struggle with time management and self discipline as well, but almost universally children need help in this area.
Their guitar teacher will instruct them on what to practice, but a child needs help from an adult to tell them when and how long to practice. Hence, it’s best for the adult to set the practice for a specific time every day.
It’s no different than helping a child get dressed and ready for school. You set their bedtime, you set the time they get up and help them get a routine. Likewise, helping them establish a guitar routine is not being “strict”. Indeed, it is helping your child prepare for life by showing them how things are accomplished. So, good job!
Occasionally, a parent will look at the guitar lessons as a “just for fun” adventure. You can do that. Realistically though, you can’t expect fast results if the only time your child will practice is when they are at their guitar lesson.
Focus on Positive Reinforcement
Your kiddo should have fun learning how to play guitar. Even so, it can be physically and mentally challenging.
As You Know, children can have short attention spans. For this reason, they can be discouraged if progress isn’t easy and quick. You can help and encourage them, by asking questions like: “What are you practicing?’, “What’s your favorite song so far?” You can let them know that you can hear they are getting better and that all of their practice is paying off. Likewise, you can let them know which of their songs that you like best. You can even suggest a song that you would like to hear them play some time in the future.
In the beginning, if your child is practicing routinely every day, their fingertips will be sore for a short while. Consequently, they might say that they don’t want to practice because it hurts. If this is the case, you can gently remind them that if they persevere through the first couple of weeks, then the soreness and discomfort will go away. If they just practice a little every now and then, it will take longer to get that same result.
Have Realistic Expectations
Here is a saying that rings true: The more your practice, the better you get, the more fun it is.
Certainly, it takes time to build the strength, dexterity, knowledge, and the talent necessary for anyone to sound professional. A beginning guitar player has none of these.
Children have the added disadvantage of having very short attention spans. Most noteworthy, this is especially true of young boys! I am not saying that they are all this way, but I have noticed that if there is a paper clip on the floor, it’s almost guaranteed that young boys will pick that up and try to use it as a guitar pick.
Have Your Child Teach You
You can encourage your child by asking them to teach you what they know, Ask them to teach you what they learned at their guitar lesson.
The act of teaching is a learning experience in itself. It forces someone to organize their thoughts in such a way that their explanation to someone else would be comprehensible. The time spent with your child is productive and a good bonding experience.
Be Consistent With Your Encouragement
First Of All, you do not want to be superficial with your compliments. They will eventually see through that which will render the compliment as having no value. That would be the same as getting a certificate of achievement when you didn’t do anything to deserve the certificate. It cheapens the value of the recognition.
Instead, encourage and compliment those things that are real. For example: A great practice session; being consistent in their practice; compliment a new song they are working on; you can tell their timing is getting better; and so on.
An Environment That Enables Better Practice Sessions
Rooms and spaces can have a psychological effect on your mood. Hence, sitting on the back porch can make you feel different than sitting at the kitchen table, or in an office.
Sitting on the back porch might let your mind drift and relax as you take in the flowers, the plants, and the breeze. In contrast, when you are sitting in your office you might be more focused on getting things done.
The same thing is true about a practice space. If you practice on the back porch, you might be more prone to playing fun songs. Not really practicing, but rather playing and enjoying the music.
Similarly, if you practice in the office you might have a more goal oriented session. The goal could be writing a song, drilling a solo, building dexterity skill, working on a technique, or skill building in general.
Both are good to practice, but the environment does play in to it. It can have an effect on your attitude on what and how you are going to practice.
For your 7 year old child, it would be great if you could set up a designated area for their practice. You could put a couple of inspirational posters on the wall. Get a cool looking throw rug for the floor with a special chair and music stand. It’s their special area to chill, focus, and practice.
Lack of Discipline Means Lack of Results
Realistically, if your child does not practice then they are not going to get quick results. That doesn’t mean that they won’t get any results. They will move forward by showing up at their guitar lesson once a week, but if that is the only time they practice then the results will be slow.
Eventually, we would like to see everybody practice at least 1/2 hour every day. This can be very difficult for a 7 year old. Let’s scale that back and work up to that 1/2 hour practice session goal.
A 7 year old beginner guitar player should start with practicing 10 minutes a day. Practice at the same time, in the same room, for the same duration…..everyday.
I guarantee that if they stay with it, it will bring them many hours of joy throughout their life.
The Dilemma. Mom Vs. The Guitar Teacher
It is common for Mom or Dad to sit in on their youngsters guitar lesson. It is not necessary with all children, but their parents presence can help the child feel more comfortable.
A problem can happen if the parent tries to over direct the guitar teacher as to what they think their child should learn. I am not saying the input is bad, because it is not. Parents know what their child is doing in their school play, or watching on TV, or what they are listening to in general. This is great information for the guitar teacher.
Frequently, when you ask a child what kind of music they like, they will have no clue. Parents will have a better idea of what songs they are familiar with and can help with song suggestions. It is easier for anybody to learn a song if they are already familiar with it. Likewise, a child can be too shy to ask for a specific song. However, it is also good for them to learn songs that they haven’t heard. A teacher will usually have a set of songs and studies lined up that are specifically designed to teach something that will move your child forward in a step by step fashion. Let them do that. It’s best to let the teacher follow their format and let them enhance that format with suggestions you might have.
Here is another problem that I have encountered more than once. Mom wants their child to learn Mary Had A Little Lamb, but Jr’s been listening to the classic rock that Mom and Dad have on the car radio. Jr wants to learn Enter Sandman by Metallica.
This is a real problem. The teacher has to walk a fine line between doing what Mom wants and trying to keep Jr excited about the music they are learning.
