My daughter and I have had this ongoing argument over how she approaches playing the piano. She refuses to count the measures as she’s learning, so she often plays incorrect rhythms until her teacher has to correct her. Believe me if I try to correct her it gets beyond ugly, so I just suffer through the week until her teacher gets a hold of her. Sometimes the rhythm is so off it’s like starting over from scratch. She could save herself so much pain if she would just COUNT!

Well, this last week Karma decided to give me the most excellent of gifts. My daughter was asked to teach a boy from a different team a particular ballroom dance. They needed him to fill in because of an injury on her team. After the first day, she came home so frustrated. “This kid is going to take forever to get this dance. If he would just count it would be so much easier.”

A better mom probably wouldn’t have pointed out that she shared the same problem when it came to piano, but I’m not a better mom. And all I had to say was, “Count, you say,” and raise my eyebrows.

She knew exactly what I was talking about and threw up her hands. “It’s not the same thing…”

I snorted. Yes, snorted. The girl was being ridiculous. “Yes, it is…and I couldn’t be happier. Now you understand how much your stubbornness must frustrate your piano teacher.”

Did she learn her lesson? Has she changed her ways? No. Teenagers excel at many things, and digging in their heels is probably their strongest trait.