I think you're making a very good point. Most of us are in school as a requirement. Music lessons aren't a forced requirement like school, at least generally sp

I think you're making a very good point. Most of us are in school as a requirement. Music lessons aren't a forced requirement like school, at least generally speaking. It is instead parents that often push their kids into lessons. One point I don't see mentioned much here: you want your kids to be inspired, and there are lots of ways to do that. But, I think it's equally if not more important as the parent to BE INSPIRING to them re: music. I was first trained on saxophone, flipped to drums, and can dabble on guitar and piano. I don't know if I chose saxophone when I was in elementary school, but it was an option, and I chose it to some degree. But my dad was all over it in a good way. He numerous saxophone-playing friends from his own days playing the keys in bands. He helped me acquire an old and unique sax that really made care to maintain and play it. He suggested I play along with certain songs he liked. And he came to all of my recitals as well. So, I never resisted it because my parents forced me. That said, I did get bored of a more classical way of playing and tried for quite some time to flip my saxophone playing to jazz. Ultimately, I flipped to drums because I had been banging on things with some good rhythm for my entire life. It was just natural, and I knew that I had mostly found the instrument that fit me. By that point, I was old enough to start playing in bands and that was what fueled many more years of truly enjoyable performance.