How many people wish they never had piano lessons?
How many people say 'I really wish I couldn't play the piano'.
I wouldn't use being good at something as an excuse to push someone into it. See the unabomber for an example.
How many people say "I really wish I couldn't fly a plane, program a computer or speak 200 languages"?, so why doesn't anyone here go and learn them or push their kids into doing them? Because this is a piano forum and so we're all agreed that playing the piano is good?
If you have pushy parents, I'd offer to teach them and see if they stick at something they really wish their kids could do.
I liked galonia's post the best because it showed empathy for his student "I know what I was like when I was a teenager" and, despite saying "talk to the parent" he actually talked to the student instead, and imo, that's why it worked, because he had empathy and gave her some external motivation, rather than hoping that she would had some intrinisic desire to play.
Plus, bear in mind that lots of us " really wish" we could do something. Especially in terms that imply that we wish we'd started it xx years or so in the past.
The fact we don't do it is largely because wishing doesn't work. If we've tried to do it and gave up, lost interest etc, that's probably because of the difference between the dream of wishing you could and the reality of what doing it entails. If the dream is the parents you're teaching the wrong person.
Regrets? 30 years ago I couldn't do things I can do now. Should I regret not trying harder back then? Nah, because if you do something when you are 30, 40 or 50 it doesn't follow that you had what was necessary when you were 10 and it's not as though the years I didn't spend learning to play snooker, the piano or speaking Japanese weren't spent learning something else.
So sure, I could "really wish" my parents had bought a piano and I might "really wish" that I'd learnt to play when I was 5, but the likelyhood is that I would be like the vast majority of kids who have no great interest. Had I been pushed I might not have learnt the thing I've spent 20+ years doing. A thing that my parents and teachers didn't even know existed, let alone had an informed opinion about its merits.
OTOH someone might say "..but I was pushed and at the time I hated it, but now I'm really glad.." but we're a forgiving bunch and our parents are humans after all, so we might forgive and forget so long as they don't push too hard. Chances are they would have taken it up again themselves eventually. e.g A lot of parents say they buy a piano, it gathers dust and then one day a sudden interest appears.
The fact this girl has access to a piano _and_ a parent who appears to play and no doubt enjoys music is all the pushing she should need. OTOH, perhaps she has too easy access and clue about what piano is all about and takes it for granted. Maybe she will take an interest in, or even become obsessive about something that's not so readily obtainable.
Bernhard talks in one of his posts about very young children being left and letting them reach a point where what they know is no longer enough so they seek out more teaching.
Perhaps that is true for older students too? Maybe for a time the formality of lessons is what some don't like and pushing just associates piano and music with something they don't like. Maybe it's not just very young children who need to be left alone to get bored with what they can already do before teaching them more? There are a plethora of people who play piano, to a certain standard, and have no great interest or desire to go beyond pieces they can already pick up and play. Who are we to decide that they could be better if they tried? Certainly not if they are adults, but why because they are children or young adults? Are they all eating cabbage and sprouts these days to give us so little else to worry about?
