What does it mean to be a Suzuki Parent? Is it just bringing your kid to lessons and group classes, and making sure they do their daily CD listening and practicing at home? Well, just like the Suzuki Method is more about the philosophy behind the materials than just the songs and the order they are introduced, Suzuki Parenting is a method of parenting. It's creativity, flexibility, patience, encouragement, consistency - basically it's supporting your young learner through this journey and helping to make the process fun.
You're going to think this next point is completely unrelated, but stick with me for a moment. My 3 year old child has recently begun swimming lessons (well, actually, she's been taking swimming lessons for almost a whole year before she started Suzuki Guitar, but a lot of those early lessons were water acclimation, much like her beginning Suzuki Guitar lessons, with getting acclimated to the guitar). Anyway, the point is, she's at that level in her swim classes that everyone else is willing to put their face under water, and she keeps refusing. (She actually once said to me on vacation at a pool "Mommy look, I can put my face in the water!" and proceeded to turn her head and dip her cheek into the water. It was very cute and I applauded cuz she was technically correct and she did the thing her swim teacher keeps trying to get her to do, at least her definition of the task.) Is that what I mean by Suzuki Parenting Method? Well, that's a little too obvious. Encouraging our children every micro step of the way is just good parenting in general, I think.
My actual point is what I decided to do to help my child practice jumping in the water and holding her breath. I knew she needed to work on this skill: hold breath, jump in, resurface above water, begin breathing again. Those are all obvious steps to us, but each of those steps needs to be taught and practiced. (A side note: now that I am potty training a small child, I never realized how many steps it takes to teach a kid how to go use the bathroom. The beauty of the Suzuki Method is breaking down complex skills into manageable elements to build ability. Can someone please write a Suzuki Potty Training Method? I will absolutely take that teacher training course!) Anyway, so we don't have a pool at home, but I have a giant blue scarf. And my kid likes to jump off the couch. So, I tied off the scarf on one end to the curtain hook, and held the other end taut, and have my kid stand on the couch, hold her breath, jump onto the floor, and then I bring the scarf down below her head and then tell her to breathe out and resume breathing. I'm hoping this will give her more confidence in her next swim class to try this in the actual water (and not a scarf representing fake water). When I came up with this idea, I thought to myself "Now THAT is the Suzuki Parenting Method!" It applies to more than just music. It's the creativity to come up with a way to practice a certain skill at home if you don't have all the resources the teacher does in the lesson.
And my big win of the day was that at her lesson this week, she was able to show her teacher that she has been paying attention all along and showed most of the skills we've been practicing from her practice cards. Even the teacher was like "which one was this exercise?" and instead of me explaining, my kid just started doing it, and the teacher was like, "wow, that's great! you remembered that one! great job!" from like something she showed us once way back in like lesson 2 (today was lesson 7). Yep, we've been reviewing literally everything the teacher has shown us from the beginning every week, to the best proficiency she can produce. One thing the teacher showed us week 1, she could do in week 3. And this week she could do the 2nd part of it. It might seem like slow progress, but the fact is it's progress and the synapses are forming. I just gotta remember this at her next swim class, that just cuz we practice the holding breath and jumping into "water" at home, doesn't mean she'll necessarily be able to do it at her swim class next week. It might take a few more weeks of practice and then one day she'll just jump right in and not cough a lot upon coming back up.
You're going to think this next point is completely unrelated, but stick with me for a moment. My 3 year old child has recently begun swimming lessons (well, actually, she's been taking swimming lessons for almost a whole year before she started Suzuki Guitar, but a lot of those early lessons were water acclimation, much like her beginning Suzuki Guitar lessons, with getting acclimated to the guitar). Anyway, the point is, she's at that level in her swim classes that everyone else is willing to put their face under water, and she keeps refusing. (She actually once said to me on vacation at a pool "Mommy look, I can put my face in the water!" and proceeded to turn her head and dip her cheek into the water. It was very cute and I applauded cuz she was technically correct and she did the thing her swim teacher keeps trying to get her to do, at least her definition of the task.) Is that what I mean by Suzuki Parenting Method? Well, that's a little too obvious. Encouraging our children every micro step of the way is just good parenting in general, I think.
My actual point is what I decided to do to help my child practice jumping in the water and holding her breath. I knew she needed to work on this skill: hold breath, jump in, resurface above water, begin breathing again. Those are all obvious steps to us, but each of those steps needs to be taught and practiced. (A side note: now that I am potty training a small child, I never realized how many steps it takes to teach a kid how to go use the bathroom. The beauty of the Suzuki Method is breaking down complex skills into manageable elements to build ability. Can someone please write a Suzuki Potty Training Method? I will absolutely take that teacher training course!) Anyway, so we don't have a pool at home, but I have a giant blue scarf. And my kid likes to jump off the couch. So, I tied off the scarf on one end to the curtain hook, and held the other end taut, and have my kid stand on the couch, hold her breath, jump onto the floor, and then I bring the scarf down below her head and then tell her to breathe out and resume breathing. I'm hoping this will give her more confidence in her next swim class to try this in the actual water (and not a scarf representing fake water). When I came up with this idea, I thought to myself "Now THAT is the Suzuki Parenting Method!" It applies to more than just music. It's the creativity to come up with a way to practice a certain skill at home if you don't have all the resources the teacher does in the lesson.
And my big win of the day was that at her lesson this week, she was able to show her teacher that she has been paying attention all along and showed most of the skills we've been practicing from her practice cards. Even the teacher was like "which one was this exercise?" and instead of me explaining, my kid just started doing it, and the teacher was like, "wow, that's great! you remembered that one! great job!" from like something she showed us once way back in like lesson 2 (today was lesson 7). Yep, we've been reviewing literally everything the teacher has shown us from the beginning every week, to the best proficiency she can produce. One thing the teacher showed us week 1, she could do in week 3. And this week she could do the 2nd part of it. It might seem like slow progress, but the fact is it's progress and the synapses are forming. I just gotta remember this at her next swim class, that just cuz we practice the holding breath and jumping into "water" at home, doesn't mean she'll necessarily be able to do it at her swim class next week. It might take a few more weeks of practice and then one day she'll just jump right in and not cough a lot upon coming back up.
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