Originally Posted by master of none
Well, at least you knew where you stood. No practice, makes you a less stellar player. And then your parents could see that performance and either knock some practice into you or refuse to spend money on lessons, or tell your grandparents don't bother to show up, or however they wanted to respond to your underachieving ways. Sadly my dd takes no lessons, and rarely practices but is top in her class. She would not be tops anywhere else, and won't be by high school, but she says when she is no longer near the top, she will quit. I'm so glad that the ranking takes this part of parenting out of my hands.

I kept doing it to fill in part of the "well-rounded" checkbox for college.

Strictly going through the motions.