Staying professional.

[jeremyjchilds]

I have a problem. I am a fairly outgoing person, so I can have a tendancy to befriend my students and thier families. This is a problem because I then have a problem simply viewing this as a business, and raising fees is a problem, and dropping students etc.

Does anyone else have more experience with this? It's easy to say "just don't be thier friend" but I go and tune my student's pianos too, and the parents are inviting me to stay for dinner...I actually did once shame on me. either that or they will bring me stuff at the lesson (Homemade jams, gifts, garden produce, etc.)

What is the best way to not get sucked into this..cause we're wired that way in our social lives.. or is it just not a big deal?

[Appenato]

if they bring you stuff from the garden or gifts or whatever, that's nothing to be concerned about whether you're remaining professional. it's nice they actually do it, and accept it as a gesture of their appreciation of you and what you do! 

i can't help ya with the main issue of your post since i tend to befriend my students and families, too.... i'm still working on how to balance out being professional yet retaining an amicable disposition. thing is, being friendly puts the students at ease and we have fun at the lesson and it's not just boring to be "student" and "teacher". it's how i can share in their life and get to know them better so that we can both rise to our potential as student and teacher. i know for myself that because my second teacher considers me a friend and not just student, lessons are more meaningful because i know she cares and it's because she's not all strictly professional with me. ehh i dono where else i'm going with this or where this post came from.... just thoughts floating about in my mind this morning. carry on.