My mother picked up after all of us, she did the dishes, cleared the table and cooked the food. We made the mess. One day, I was about 16 and my older brothers long moved away to other cities, she decided I should be helping with domestic things. I didn’t exactly jump to it. I didn’t understand my responsibility in this until at least ten years afterward, maybe 15 actually. I’m reminded of this as I’m trying to incline my ten year old daughter to think of me as not just the butler. I think it’ll take a few years as it did me. The Russian schools of music teaching have so many stories of strict abusive teachers and their expectations. I think one has to consider the damage that comes with hurting a learner vs. inspiring one. I’m appreciative my mother didn’t resort to electric shocks, just guilt tripping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"