Questionable Parenting Decision #4521

My darling Sprout yearns to be a musician. She has a number of guitars that she plays around with and a keyboard that she likes to put on in player-piano mode to serenade us with endless repetitions of "The Entertainer".

In third grade last year, kids were able to take lessons on a stringed instrument at school. Sprout chose the cello. Even a half-sized cello was seriously the same size as she was. When she attempted to carry it on her back she couldn't stand up straight or it would drag on the ground.

But it sounded really good! A cello has a mellow enough sound that even a beginner sounds not at all bad.

But by the end of the school year she was ready to try something new. So when I offered music lessons to both of my kids over the summer, Sprout chose the viola.

This seemed somewhat anticlimactic to me. Another instrument essentially pigeon-holed to play only classical music (and yes, I know there are "rock" violas out there, but really...not many). So I asked about 20 trillion times if she was sure. And she was.

So for about 6 weeks she took viola lessons. And she was pretty good. It was easy to pick up from the cello apparently. But she didn't like not being AS good as she was at cello. Not a bit fan of the slow build of new skills.

Early in July we went and saw a performance by The School of Rock. And those kids were completely awesome. And Sprout decided that she liked the idea of being in a rock band. Her dad is. She frequently pretends to be a Jonas Brother (which is a whole other story).

So today, we traded in the viola for a snare drum. And oh boy, is she excited.

Me and Mike? Not so much.