I am often asked if keyboards are okay, or if it's necessary to have a piano. The short answer is yes, and yes.
First, a word of definition: keyboards need to be plugged in and turned on to be heard, and pianos do not. (An organ is what is found in a church, and it has two or more keyboards, called manuals, and has pedals for the feet to play.) Pianos are not called keyboards, and keyboards should not be called pianos.
Electric keyboards are very convenient and usually inexpensive, making them a common choice for families looking for simple solutions. Weighted keys (which means, the harder you push on the key, the louder the sound is, just as on a "real" piano) are more and more common on keyboards, making the keyboard seem like a perfectly reasonable alternative to a piano.
The advantage to pianos, however, is that they develop far more finger strength than keyboards... and finger strength is the basis for nearly all piano artistry. You know how your child sometimes seems to be pounding the piano, not merely playing it? Yeah, not lovely--but it's part of learning to play beautifully. Honest, lol! It's only when you've learned to truly pound that your fingers become strong enough to play tenderly.
But pianos are really, really expensive, right? Well, new ones are, certainly. Used ones, however, are becoming more and more common as people make the ill-advised choice to move to keyboards, and many good-quality pianos are available for free.
Is a free piano worth it? Possibly...even probably. To know for certain, there are things to look for, but it's entirely reasonable to assume that at least half of them are reasonable. And yes, tuning is an issue for pianos, and something you don't need to worry about with electric keyboards. Every time a piano is moved, you can assume it will need tuning. But once a piano is in a stable environment, where the temperatures don't fluctuate wildly, and is nicely in tune, it's not unlikely that it will be able to hold that tune well, and you'll only need to have it tuned on a yearly basis (or less).
So, while a keyboard is easy, a piano is a far better choice, with many advantages a keyboard simply cannot provide. If you'd like to consider a piano, talk to me and I can give you further tips on choosing one that's right for you.