So when Tony turned 3 I thought he might like some type of martial art but all the studios here don't start teaching until 4 years old. Makes sense, 3 is pretty young for them to undertand the idea, but then I saw a summer program through a community center for karate tots. Only 30 bucks and no uniforms. I thought "perfect" it will be a fun Saturday morning teaching basic karate moves in a kid friendly environment. Or maybe not. We had missed the first class so I arrived early and asked if we could watch. The class was only 4 other boys and again I thought "perfect" lots of one on one. Let me say I undertand marial arts are serious and teach disipline and respect -both attributes I would like Tony to undertand but this guy was a bit harsh. He started simply enough by talking about the colored belts and how karate can help you in everyday life and even had some funny names for a few of the moves, but then he proceeded to bark out positions like these kids were supposed to automatically remember from last week. At one point I asked T if he wanted to stand near the back of the class and practice with them but he shook his head no and gave me the "big eyes" None of the other parents had any reaction so I thought I was being overly sensitive but near the end he wanted to teach a kidnapping hold. He was "trying" to demonstrate on a boy but the poor child was not following instructions or understanding (or maybe he was terrified) and the teacher was getting so frustrated he finally gave up and let the kids play basketball for the last 10 minutes...Huh Although it was the only time the kids looked like they were enjoying themelves!
Afterwords while we were driving to the park Tony said "That guy was mean I don't like karate." And I had to wonder what those other 4 boys said on the way home.
Maybe this was his first attempt at teaching or maybe I have no idea what to look for in a good teacher but I felt like it was karate boot camp instead of karate tots. I believe we will wait until Tony turns 4 and try again at a reputable place.
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