There's a fine line. As I mentioned above, our six year old is taking piano lessons. Sometimes he isn't motivated to practice, and there is a fine line between instilling a willingness to work hard and backing off a bit to give him the opportunity to decide for himself what he wants to do.

I'm not sure that kids are immediately equipped to understand the importance of hard work for something they are passionate about. It's certainly possible to instill this in them without being a taskmaster.