Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Kah-rah-Tay ( but really Youn Wha Ryu)


My boy LOVES karate, last year, he once told me he was an expert at karate...this after having exactly zero lessons in karate. Well, this year, the school is offering an afterschool karate class for a super reasonable price so we signed him up. Now I LOVE karate too! Besides the fact that it is a great physical outlet for him, these are the things he is being taught. "Be Polite, Be Patient, Be Alert, Be Brave, Do Your Best, Respect Yourself and Others." Should any class members choose not to be be any of these things during training, they must remove their uniform until they decide that they will be the above listed things. I LOVE KARATE! The thing that is so great, is that my son who definitely has struggles with respecting authority is becoming a respectful child who engages in training and really truly tries hard to learn this new skill. This is the first time he has been teachable! ( This is afterall the kid who refused to be taught how to ride a bike, because he insisted he already knew how...and then got on a bike and in less than 30 seconds was riding down the street without any kind of training wheels.) I am so amazed at the ability of the instructor ( a female by the way, so this isn't any kind of alpha male thing that's getting his attention, its true honest respect and interest) to reach him. I love to go and observe and learn.