I have no idea of music. So, how can I teach my child?
By Le Hai Dang
Before giving the answer, I’d like to tell you the story of Meng Zi’s mother moving house for three times.
Meng Zi and his mother first moved to a house near a cemetery. Like other kids, her son was good at imitating others. Seeing people crying uncontrollably in front of graves, he imitated them, which aroused lots of concerns in his mother. His mother then thought that this wasn’t the suitable place for him to grow.
They then lived near a market. Meng Zi learnt sellers’ ways to cry their wares. Seeing this, his mother thought “This wasn’t a good place for my son, too.”
In the third time, they came to live near a school. Here Meng Zi imitated the ceremonial observance the pupils had to follow. His mother felt secured and thought “This place is suitable for my son”.

Meng Zi felt bored and dropped out of school just after several days. Seeing him going home early, his mother asked “Why did you leave school so early?” He replied “I don’t like to study”. Then, all of the sudden, his mother cut off the yarn on the loom. Meng Zi found her action so strange and asked her the reason. She said “I weave to earn money to pay for your tuition fees. Now, you don’t go to school anymore. Why do I have to continue weaving? Learning is like weaving. It can be resumed if interrupted.” Understaning the underlying meaning of his mother’s words, Meng Zi studied hard and continuously. He became “second Sage” that is only after Confucius.
Mencius’s mother wasn’t a teacher, but she had great educational ideas. She gave him a source of encouragement and favorable conditions to study and make the most of himself.
So, whether you have knowledge of music or not is not the reason or barrier for you to help your children in learning music. Any parents can create conditions as well as healthy environment at home to train their children’s diligence, carefulness, disciplines, and maintain regular practice. There are two things parents can help: taking their children to and picking them up from music classes, and keeping a close watch on their children’s practice at home. They need neither pedagogical knowledge nor superb musical skills to do these tasks well. By doing these tasks, they give a hand to forming good learning habits in their children. The Chinese have a saying that goes “When you do something often, you will have the habit of doing it.” Habits are in fact the actions done repetitively. Once learning becomes a habit, one won’t no longer feel uncomfortable with it. Don’t hesitate to set some rules for your children, for example practicing before meal, learning before playing, etc. to gradually create a methodical and disciplined learning environment.

Learning music requires persistence. Do set a big objective and strive to make it through. Regular practice plays an extremely important role in education, especially in the arts involving skills, techniques, and sensibility like music. And parents can help their children with this.
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