When I'm sitting in the car at piano and Mrs. Maurhoff comes out between the children's lessons, its a sure sign that something's up. In her sweet kind way, she asked me for the children's birth dates, and then informed me that of the songs Olivia was to practice the previous week she only played 2 correct notes! TWO! She told me how she spoke to Olivia about how we can "practice" or we can practice with purpose, and challenged Olivia to do the latter. She's a real gem I tell ya!
Olivia had already ran off to play with Kai during the conversation I had with Linda, which gave me a few minutes to think about what the consequence should be for wasting Mrs. Maurhoff's time and our money.
When she came back we had a talk about what had happened in there. She, although at first was defensive, came to explain that this week she didn't play the pieces she was assigned but instead played her favorite pieces. While I was still a little frustrated, I get it. She's just nine.
Understanding however doesn't remove consequences. Olivia owes Brian and I $17 dollars for the lesson. Since she has no money, she will have to work it off. I've created a chart full of jobs and their value, and she will have 2 weeks to pay off this debt.
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