Spin the Top

As a new piano teacher I would test prospective students by asking if they could tie their shoes. Back then, most five-year-olds could master the loop, swoop and pull or the bunny ears. The ones that couldn’t probably didn’t have the manual dexterity or the eye-to-hand coordination to manage five finger exercises on the keyboard either. In the 80’s, most of my students had at least one pair of Velcro shoes. By the 90’s, it was a rare child who had any shoes with laces. Those that did never tied them. Mom or Dad tied them loosely enough for them to slip the shoes on and off. Those kids are grown now, and many of them have children of their own. The ones whose parents came to piano lessons with Tamagotchis in their pockets have their own smart phones. They’ve never run to the market on an errand for Mom, and they’ve never gone to the park unsupervised. But they do know how to play Angry Birds.