Your child is not perfect yet, but they will be awesome by Black Belt.
Over the years, we have met with many different types of parents. I will say, by far, there are the parents who are disturbed that their children act out a little bit in classes or talk too much. We just want you to know, your child may not be perfect in classes yet, but they will be AWESOME by the time they are Black Belts.
We are very proud of our instructors and their abilities to work with children of all ages, attention spans and levels of discipline. Sometimes, there will be children in class who appear not to be getting as much out of the class as other children. That is okay. They are on their own journey to Black Belt. Whether you have a 3 year old in our pre-school class, a 7 year old in our big kids class or a 13 year old in teen class, there will be bumps along the way.
We want you to know that we can handle it. We also want you to know that we hope you let us handle it. Our teachers have methods to bring children along at their own pace, while having them participate in a group class. Some children are tactile learners, some are audible and some are visual. Our instructors are trained to perceive this difference in your child and they will help them become the best they can be in Karate.
It has been said many times, by many parents, that no two children in their family are the same. They may have one that is more cerebral than the other. They may have one that is more athletic than the other. The same holds true for every individual in our classes. While our goal is to get them all to Black Belt, the paths they travel may be very different. We want you to trust us and to be the best parent you can be and support them in their journey to Black Belt.
In order to make this work better, we ask that you accept a few pointers from us.
If your child is comfortable, we prefer that you not sit on the front row of seats when they are in the class nearest to the lobby chairs. We want them to concentrate on the teacher. It may be important for them to know you are there, so sit somewhere they can see you. However, please resist the urge to communicate with them while they are in class. We certainly understand if you need to nod to them so they are comfortable, but please don’t coach them on how to pay attention better. If they are paying attention to you, they are missing what the instructor is teaching at that moment.
When your child comes out of class, please use the end of every single class to compliment them on something and refrain from a criticism. If you see the good in them and tell them about it, we can do our job to correct all the things that need to be fixed. You can be their advocate and we can be their teachers!
By all means, if you have any concerns, please talk to us. We keep notes on their attendance and their process towards their goals. The instructors are all working on goals with them, so we will be aware of how they did in class. It is helpful if you ask the front office staff for any teaching questions, rather than approaching the teachers.
Most of our instructors have one class leaving and another class starting immediately. We want to give every student all of our time. Our front office staff can speak with them at their next break and get whatever answers you need. We also are great at following up with emails and phone calls a few hours after your child’s class is over.
Thanks for helping us bring your child along the path to Black Belt! We promise it will be an adventure.
