It's okay for them to see you struggle

I don't know where parents, in general, got the idea that our children shouldn't see us struggle. After all what kind of message does this give to our children? Do we, as a group, want our children to think that life comes easy, without practice, or failure? Do we want them to learn that anything worth having is worth working towards? Do we want them to see that if you want something then you have to try and try again?

I took up the banjo, a few weeks back. I'll be the first to tell you it's hard. Or maybe it's just hard for these 40 something fingers and this 40 something brain. But still without my parents standing over me, I face the music everyday, and practice. More often than not it's painful. I wonder just when will my fingers remember where the %$^# strings are, never mind the frets. Song after song, sometimes repeated measure after repeated measure -- and still very little improvement.

But there is improvement. I can get to that C in Worried Man; a miracle. I can almost hear the melody of Cripple Creek. It's slow, but it's there. And my kids hear it too. They see me practice -- forgoing TV, to put in my time. Sometimes they join in with their own musical practice time. Sometimes they even practice extra... another miracle. But the biggest miracle of all will be when they tell their own children, "If you want something, if you're willing to work, then it will be yours."