[andkon]

One thing that can make it fun, speaking as a former kid who grew up playing fiddle, is to get to play with other kids and connect with other kids through music. Maybe that's tough with piano, but youth orchestra, band, fiddle circles, all sorts of things offer them the chance to find other people with whom they can make their instrument their own thing, and not just yours. Though there is always a helpful role for parental encouragement in practicing – because damn is that part not fun.

[msds]

This is definitely a big thing! Having a group of musical friends to play with is a lot of fun, really helps keep them interested, and is the only way to learn how to play music with people. I wish I/my parents put a little more effort into that, because there's a lot of musical "soft skills" that I'd like to be better at. For better or worse, the Irish Trad scene (outside of Ireland at least) is quite focused on drinking beer and playing tunes in pubs late into the night; so that was off limits to me at the time...