I agree with fotostat. I live in a condo complex and have an idiot neighbor with no common sense who decided getting a full drum set for his son would be a good idea (we have a common wall). I can't compare it to a piano/flute/clarinet, but all I can say is even for an hour a day during the daytime, the noise from the drums was unbearable. We had quite a few arguments about it, but eventually he came to his senses and at least put some muting pads on his drums. It's still loud and annoying (mostly because his son is pretty horrible at drums), but at least the noise is tolerable. The thing is, if he had actually come talked to me BEFORE he bought the drums, I'm sure we could have resolved the issue about the mute pads then, instead of having to argue with each other and be in a situation where two next-door neighbors hate each other. I would strongly advise just going to each of your neighbors and seeing if you won't be causing too much of a problem.

Bumble, you might be my DD's biological mom LOL. Her (self imposed) goal this summer is to cook more "real meals." She already bakes a lot, with some supervision, and makes pancakes independently. Her real obsession these days is duct tape. She has made a variety of wallets, purses, etc. She usually makes at least one a day. She has probably 25 rolls of various colors and patterns at the moment. I honestly don't think I could make one of those wallets myself, and I'm fairly crafty...or used to be! She has her own glue gun. Tish, like you say, she's not a great speller or much of a reader but she can read complicated directions or a recipe and figure it out no problem, so she's all set!

Of course, if you did give in to the urge, you'd only succeed in embarassing your 11 y/o. I've seen coaches generally not using good sportmanship. But I know I cannot change that person, only the way I cope with it. If it was bad enough, I would just file a complaint with the powers that be. Otherwise, confrontation with the individual will never make it better. We don't enroll our kids in sports just so they can be superjocks. Part of the lesson is learning to deal with difficult people and learning to stand up for themselves. An 11 y/o is old enough to say "coach, I really want to play more." It's about gaining the confidence to speak up on one's own behalf. I disagree that a volunteer coach in some way has the right to favor their own child b/c of the time he/she is giving up. The volunteer coach is there to coach all the kids equally and should be grown up and objective enough to do that, no matter what their papa/mamma bear instinct might be saying. When on the field, court, etc. the coach needs to see all kids equally. They would be doing a disservice to all the kids, even their own, to do otherwise. Kids are separate from their parents and should not be penalized for their parents behavior. And they should not be penalized for their parents lack of time or skill to coach. Some people really just wouldn't make a good coach, and they know it. We should try not to judge what the other parents give in their time or money, most of us try our best. And if we cannot control our judgement of the parents, it should at least not extend to the kid. I just completely disagree that the coach in some way deserves to favor any player, even their own kid. And DH and I have coached, been team parents, kept score, run the concession stand, you name it, and we're not even close to done with our years on teams. But none of that entitles us to favortism for our children. But I do agree that the consequence of a player not coming, or not trying hard, in practice should be less play time. That's just not being a team player. And I agree that the older the players get, the less the equal play time needs to be heeded. I agree w/Popi's ages on that issue, teenages. DS#1 is on a roller hockey league right now in which he is among the youngest, he's 13 and the boys go up to 18. He sits the bench a lot, especially in a close game. Even though no state championship or scholarship is on the line, even though we all pay the same amount of money to the league for them to play. I'm OK with the coach playing all the kids some of the time, but the best kids most of the time. DS wants his team to win and if the other boys playing is going to make that happen, that's how sports works. Of course younger kids are learning the fundamentals of the game, the play time should still be equal. But now that DS is playing "with the big boys" he needs to improve his skills to earn his play time. For the most part, we've had good experiences in team sports with our kids. Right now we have a hockey player and a gymnast on teams. We've also done soccer and basketball in the past. Generally I've just met other parents who are trying their best and there is mutual respect and concern for all the kids. I have not yet felt like any of my kids needed defended on a team, I've felt they were being treated fairly.

1 piano, 3 guitars, 1 keyboard, 1 harmonica, and 1 violin. My kids are all very talented at these things, I had to teach myself the piano and even taking one year (almost) of lessons I'm still not very good at it lol. They must take after their Dad...he taught them all the guitar, and they figured out the rest on their own. ;o)