Love the question Kate! I have LIVED this over and over. Daughter #1 wants to take a class, sign her up, pay for it, class begins- she hates it. I tell her she has made a commitment and she must follow through. End of story. No incentives, because the real world doesn't give you incentives to go to work.

I feel like if the lessons are paid for, you stick it out. (Totally agree with what Maureen said.) But what do you do next? Try something new? Same subject, different teacher? Push for another series of lessons, in case your child is really close to that "aha" moment with the subject? I don't know. My child is too young for lessons, so this is all still theoretical for me.

I stopped taking violin when I was a kid and I have kind of vague regrets about it. My husband stopped taking piano lessons because the teaching style didn't work for him, but he was still interested, and he ended up teaching himself how to play by ear. (Both of us, it should be said, did finish out paid-for lessons.) I don't know what approach we'll take with our son.

This has happened with my 8-year-old son. He took five of the six lessons for lacrosse, but hated the amount of running. I told him that I would only sign him up with the following agreement in place. If he quits, he needs to repay me the money that I put out for him to attend. If he stays with it, I will sign him up for anything that he wishes.

It all depends on the age. Younger than 5, I say forget about it. 6 and above, tough it out until the lesson "season" is over.

It depends on who chose the class. If the parent chose the class and the child hates it, I don't think it's fair to force the child to continue. If the child chose it and is old enough to understand the concept of making an agreement, the child should stick it out.

I think organized lessons start too early and contribute to children wanting to quit. For example, rather than signing up for T-ball or gymnastics at 5, let children that age experiment with unstructured versions of the sport or activity. That way the child and parent can find out the level of interest without too much of an investment.

More than once one of my son's friends asked our son to take an art class with him (to be more precise, the parents made the request, partly so that we could carpool) and then the other child would back out, leaving my son alone in the class. We insisted that he go anyway, and it usually worked out pretty well, but it was annoying.

Well as a parent and a Martial Arts teacher,it is not always good if we let our kids quit everything,one it will become a pattern,either with the child,or the parents.Life is not about quitting,but at the same time some of the classes that our kids take need to be age specific.but times have changed and everyone needs special attention,some athletes are born and some are made ,i like the made onew

My son wanted to quit football after the first week of practice during his first year. I told him he was already signed up and he needed to finish the season and always play his best. He could decide at the end of the season whether he wanted to play again. A month later he changed his mind and said he wanted to change positions. He started his third year of football last night. I'm glad I made him finish out his first season. Sometimes when children face obstacles we just need to teach them to take the good with the bad.