Thursday, October 3, 2013

It's a Mom Thing

I am not one of those mothers who overschedules her child's day.  I don't believe in that sort of thing, plus I don't want to be sitting at all these different places for hours at a time.  It's not fair to me.  But we have made an effort to involve Zane in a couple of activities.  One of those activities is soccer, of course.  (I may have been ostracized by the other soccer moms, but as long as Zane loves the sport and wants to play, I will cheerfully put up with it.) 

We've also started letting Zane participate in karate.  They offer the class at Zane's school as an after school program.  As soon as I knew they would be offering the class, I mentioned the idea to Zane's father.

"Heck no!  He's too young for that!"

Not the least bit deterred, I consulted an expert.  My nephew Tristan was in karate until middle school, when he gave it up to pursue soccer full time.  I texted him, and he actually texted me back, to say that karate would be great for Zane's balance and coordination.  Thinking of my own lifelong tendency toward imbalance and dyscoordination(Is that a word? If it's not, just pretend it is), I was sold.  Plus, karate teaches self-discipline and who doesn't need a little of that?  When the opportunity presented itself, I signed the boy up.  The first month was rough. 

"Zane did you go to karate today?"

"Yep."

"Well...did you like it?"

"Yeah, it was okay."

Great, I thought.  Kiss that cash goodbye. I had been so sure he would enjoy karate! 

And then Zane sat down with me last night and showed me the correct way to make a fist.  He demonstrated the procedure first, and then he took my hand and 'helped' me, moving my fingers and thumb just so. 

"Like this?" I held up my fist, just like he'd shown me.  Zane acted all impressed.

"Whoa!  When did YOU go to kindergarten?"

I didn't answer, because at that particular moment, I couldn't remember exactly when I went to kindergarten.   And I was a little choked up with pride, to see my boy able to 'teach' what he'd learned. 

It's a Mom thing.




5.) Talk about something your child learned this week.
Mama’s Losin’ It

6 comments:

  1. I'm totally with you on the over scheduling thing, but I signed my son up for Tae Kwon Do about a year and a half ago and I couldn't be happier with the results. He loves it, plus it really has helped with his balance and coordination and concentration and all that, even though I do have to go sit there and make small talk with the other parents.

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  2. Ha, that's funny. We want to do karate too but it IS a lot of money. Our plan now is to wait until the baby is maybe 4 and then we'll all do a class. But by then, Ell will be 10 so we might want to get him started earlier. But without a doubt, my girl will learn self defense.

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  3. How cool that it's offered as an after school thing right on campus. I think my kids would benefit from karate or Tae Kwon Do, but yeah, we just aren't ready to add one more thing at this point. Plus, I'd hate for them to turn it on each other. The fighting is already bad enough as it is.

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  4. Youngest LOVED Karate. He started at 5 and went until he was about 9. Made it to his red belt in Uechi. It gave him a huge amount of confidence.

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  5. As someone who has earned my brown belt in martial arts (kempo) - I think it's a great idea to have kids in some kind of karate. It isn't so much about the actual self defense part, though that is a good skill to have, the rest of the things you mentioned, like the confidence, balance, coordination, and concentration, are taught in a way that many kids can get it when they struggle elsewhere to get those same things.

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  6. HAhahaha ... I'm SO with you on the 'dyscoordination' thing!! I wonder is it too late to start karate classes??!! Seriously, I feel your pride - and I'm sure this means you'll have an AWESOME weekend!

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