But WAIT! You have ANOTHER child that is also the right age to enroll. Maybe they are twins. Maybe they are a few years apart. Should they be in the same class?
Parents' Time Management
Many parents have HUGE success with siblings in the same class.
In Let's Play Music, parents attend every other week in year one, and once per month in years two and three.
If you only go through the cycle once, it saves you (parent) tons of effort arranging to attend on parent day and finding childcare for whichever one is not in the class. For this reason alone, it is often a good idea to purposely plan to enroll in LPM when one child is 6 and the other is 4!
What will parent day be like with multiple kids? Your teacher will always welcome another adult to attend, but if that doesn't work for your family, you'll have one child by each knee when on the floor, and you'll be seated between their two keyboards during keyboard time.
Don't worry- you will definitely be able to give hugs and high-fives and feedback to both kids. I have seen many parents succeed with two in a class. We will make sure that there is enough of you to share with your crew.
Family Practice
Many families also love having both kids enrolled in the same level because practice time can really be family time. One mom told me, "During these few years, music is a big focus for all of us in the family, LPM is something we are all invested in, and we are all on the same page. The girls both learn the songs and sing for each other and cheer each other during practice. They both have similar practice assignment, similar chores, similar bedtime. It's easy to go to class together."
When the whole family is excited to do a puppet show together after dinner or a group rhythm game... family time is a fantastic re-creation of music class. So fun!
My Time to Shine
While some families are loving being in class together, there are few reasons you might decide to separate them.
One mom told me that it was very important for her older daughter to have her own thing to shine at without being upstaged by a little sister. She hoped that her younger daughter would be even more excited to take LPM after watching and waiting for a year or two. "She needs to see that the class is an honor that comes with age, and I don't want her to be competing directly with her sister."
There was another benefit, too. "Because she's the big sister and in LPM, we let her stay up 15 minutes later from bedtime to do her practice. She feels cool because she's a big girl doing serious practice, and her sister looks forward to that someday."
Rates of Learning
If your children (or you) are competitive, having two in the same year can lead to stress. Children (even of the same age) will learn in slightly different ways and at slightly different rates.
Your 6 year old will play songs with excellence. During the 2nd and 3rd year, she will be able to play at full speed with both hands, and may even be given extra challenges from the teacher.
Meanwhile, the child who starts at age 4 will understand the concepts and be able to perform the skills, but may do so a slower speed. During year 2 and 3 she may never reach the highest level of "polish" on songs.
In Let's Play Music, BOTH OF THESE RESULTS ARE A TOTAL SUCCESS.
We ensure that students understand and love the concepts, but rather than take time to bring every student to the highest level of polish, we spend a set amount of time on each song and skill.
As a parent of two children at different ages, are you prepared to show delight and congratulations and joy at progress by both of them, even if results vary?
And here is a secret side note... starting ear training as EARLY as possible leads to best results...it's possible the younger sibling becomes better at hearing and identifying intervals, melodic patterns, and chord progressions, even though her older sibling can do the technical parts of making music better! (You, parent, will learn aural skills in class as well, but it will probably take you a LOT longer than your kids to rewire your brain.)
Sibling Personalities
Also consider the personalities of your children. Will the younger one fall into despair if she cannot keep up with her older sibling? (Note: this is an opportunity for some heart-to-heart conversations about realistic expectations that YOU have and that SHE can have.) If you already know it's going to be a struggle for her... let her wait and do LPM on her own.
Will your older child lord over her sister, or will she coach her and cheer her on? (Again, be prepared for some parenting! This is a great springboard for coaching her on how to have perspective and be kind.)
Poor Lost Souls
Every year I have a few parents enrolling a student and it turns out that there's an older brother or sister at home who missed out on Let's Play Music, usually because it wasn't available here or they didn't know about me! (By the way, some areas have PRESTO for ages 7-12.)
YOU, parent, are going to be in class seeing everything that is taught, and YOU are welcome to sing the songs and share the ideas with your older kids at home. Parents are always amazed at what better musicians they become by attending with their child. Now, take that feeling home and share with everyone. Nobody is a poor lost soul.
The worst case scenario was when one mom told me, "I feel bad enrolling Tommy because I never did this for Johnny." EEK!
I told her, "As parents we do the best we can for our children with what we have at the time! When you find something amazing, partake as much as you can and share as much as you can. No guilt allowed, because years ago you were ALSO doing the best you could with what you had!" True, that.
So, WELCOME to Let's Play Music! We are so happy to have your family.
- Gina Weibel, M.S.
Let's Play Music teacher
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