my child hates practice. now what?
SRSunitha Rao28 April 20261 min read
A parent and child at a table, the child slumped dramatically over an abacus, both mid-laugh.
It usually arrives around month three. The novelty has worn off, the sheets are harder, and one evening your child announces they hate the abacus and are never practising again. Take a breath — this is normal, and it's fixable.
what the resistance is really saying
In our experience, 'I hate practice' almost never means 'I hate the abacus'. It usually means one of three things: the work suddenly got harder, the routine is colliding with something they'd rather do, or they've had a bad week and this is where it leaked out.
what works
- Shrink the session, don't skip it. Five minutes maintains the habit; zero minutes breaks it.
- Sit nearby doing your own 'boring work'. Company changes everything.
- Race them. Children who won't practise alone will happily destroy a parent in a speed round.
- Tell their teacher. We adjust the difficulty in class more often than parents realise.
Never trade practice for punishment or reward. It should be as unremarkable as brushing teeth.
And when it still feels like a war, talk to us. Every child who now competes at nationals went through this phase — and not one of them got through it by being forced. They got through it because an adult made the next step feel small enough to take.