{"id":8393,"date":"2010-10-18T22:36:25","date_gmt":"2010-10-19T02:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mominthecity.com\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T07:25:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T11:25:53","slug":"my-karate-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mominthecity.com\/my-karate-kid\/","title":{"rendered":"My Karate Kid"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nI have mentioned several times over the last year that Michael has really wanted to take karate lessons. At the beginning of the summer, I told him that he could start classes this fall if he behaved and helped out (by playing with Sean) this summer. To make sure that I didn\u2019t forget, he started praying every night for karate lessons. Well, his prayers were answered and he took his first week of karate lessons last week. He was so excited!\n

Both my husband and I thought that martial arts would be great for Michael. He\u2019s a happy, confident kid\u2026but he could use some additional help with controlling his tongue. (That boy is a talker\u2026like his mama! He\u2019s bright too, so he will grasp a concept really quickly in school and then talk\/distract the other kids from learning. So far, his teachers have thought that this tendency is kind of cute, but it\u2019s not\u2026and it\u2019s going to get old quickly!) Anyway, the delay was more of an issue of scheduling. With work, school, church and social activities, our family schedule is already packed. I always marvel at parents whose kids are in 2, 3, or 4 activities outside of school, but that definitely will not work for us. One extracurricular activity per kid is all that we can handle! It also took us a while to figure out where<\/strong> to send Michael to school. We narrowed it down to four dojos \u2013 D.K. Park Taekwondo<\/a> in Jersey City or Staten Island where our friend John teaches; Next Evolution Mixed Martial Arts Academy<\/a> that our friend Mike owns; Tiger Schulmann\u2019s Karate <\/a>where several friends send their kids and Genyukan which we ended up choosing. I recommend all four places, because each of them is a great option. We eventually chose Genyukan though because it\u2019s literally a block away from our home (no commute\u2026yes!). I had also heard great things about the dojo and (best of all) both Michael and my husband felt great about it after Michael took a trial class there. <\/p>\n

The first day of karate class last week kind of threw me off guard. We arrived at the dojo and I dropped Michael off for class. As we were leaving, Sean lost it. Sean is a pretty calm child, so I was totally shocked. He started thrashing around and wailing<\/strong>, \u201cI don\u2019t want to go! No! I miss my brother! I miss my brother! I LO-OVE HIM!\u201d He was acting so out of character that Michael started to tear up a bit. This continued all the way as we crossed the street back to our home. Little old ladies were looking at me like I was abusing Sean. I tried to explain that he just missed his brother, but they didn\u2019t look as if they believed me. I forget what finally I bribed Sean to calm down with once we got home. (I think that it was raisins.) Once he settled down and we talked, I realized that it was just too much for him to have to say \u201cbye\u201d twice in one day (school, then karate) to his beloved brother. Sean doesn\u2019t have a complete grasp of time intervals, so he didn\u2019t initially understand that Michael was only going to be gone for one hour at karate school\u2026not for many<\/strong> hours like after regular school drop-off. Once he realized that, he was fine. Whew!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really happy that Michael is enjoying himself so far. He comes home from class and tries to teach Sean everything that he just learned. I love it, but it\u2019s breaking my heart a little bit\u2026he\u2019s getting to be such a big boy! When did babies (my baby!)<\/strong> start participating in organized sports?! Sniff. <\/p>\n

(On a related note, there is a nice little article about the value of martial arts classes for kids \u2013 both boys and girls \u2013 in the November issue of Parents<\/a><\/em> magazine. (I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s on newsstands yet though, because I have a subscription.)
\n
\nSo\u2026are your kids involved in any organized afterschool programs (sports, arts, music, etc.)? If so, I would love your tips on balancing your time together as a family with school, work, your kids extracurricular activities and such. What helps you?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have mentioned several times over the last year that Michael has really wanted to take karate lessons. 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