Karate, For My Child For The Family

I've recently enrolled my daughter in Karate. If you know my daughter on a personal level, you would know how deceiving she is. She approaches you with a coy smile, touching her ear to her shoulder, and with a higher pitched voice will introduce herself as such, "Hi, I'm Truly, I'm beautiful, What's your name?" The ooohs and aaaawes soon follow, impressed with her cuteness and sweetness. That is when she turns around and when no one is looking, will punch her 15 year old straight in the stomach and take off.

My little deceiver.

Most of the time, my Truly is well behaved, well mannered, and just acts out like any regular 4 year old. Then there are the days when things truly go in one ear and out of the other. She would honestly forget I told her not to jump off that cliff and do it anyway.

Truly doesn't go to Daycare and she will not go to Preschool. My philosophy is that once they start school, they are pretty much going to go to school Monday-Friday for the better part of their lives. So instead of hauling her off to the places I hated the most, I decided to fill her days with fun activities to encourage interaction with other children. She absolutely loves Ballet class, Sport camps at the gym and her other playgroups.

A couple of things I've noticed with Truly is when playing with other children, even though she is very assertive with her family, she is very quick to just do whatever anyone else is doing. She'll follow anyone, jump in and scream with the group, and copy the person beside her. A follower and not a leader. This doesn't concern me as much being that she is only 4, but my fear is that this may be a habit.

In comes Karate. I always knew my children were going to go to a karate class. I want y children to be able to defend themselves, have the confidence to do what they want, but have the respect for others that is demanded in Karate. Plus, I think every girl should be able to say , "I have a blackbelt."

Her first day was fun. She jumped right in, loved the yelling and kicking, and couldn't wait to get her hands on the nun-chucks. She picked up everything right away, and ended the class in a sweaty mess, loving it. The thing I also love about this certain Karate studio is that they Parent participation is required. Parents have to stand up, encourage their children from their seats, and must bow with their children. Students also earn stripes on their belts and badges, when their families write them notes of job well dones, and accomplishments throughout the week. The focus is to not only strengthen the mind of the student, but of the family as a whole.

My daughter is now 3 years away from receiving her first black belt. That will be 7 when she can officially say she is a black belt.

Wow.... I want one too......