My parents made me take music lessons as a kid. I refused to do the same to my own children.

The author (not shown) said she started piano lessons in fourth grade, but didn't always enjoy them.

Hakase_/Getty Images I loved being in the marching band in high school.

I didn't love the practice that was forced on me from a young age, and neither did my husband.

We waited until our three kids asked about music lessons instead of forcing them on them.

Some of my favorite high school memories involve music.

I played flute in the marching band , and I still remember traveling with my friends to p erform at Disneyland in our senior year.

Those trips were fun, and the friends I made in band class are the only high school friends I still keep in touch with.

But getting there involved years of music lessons that I didn't exactly choose.

I started piano lessons in fourth grade, which meant giving up after-school hours when I'd much rather have been doing almost anything else.

Eventually, I switched to flute and continued playing through high school.

By then, I was good enough to enjoy being in the marching band, but years of being told to practice left me with mixed feelings about music.

My husband had a similar experience with the viola.

He spent countless hours practicing an instrument because his parents wanted him to.

Today, decades later, he doesn't play it.