Cole even asks why he doesn't have to take a test to graduate to the next belt. How do you explain to your child that works really hard on something that it's actually all about the money?
See, you just sit there and then a black belt kid comes by and puts your new belt in front of you. Not without paying for it first though. That little colored, cardboard strip of material costs $50. 
Notice how Cole has 3 stripes? He's really good, but his stand out skills don't matter because everyone advances no matter what. 
I think we've pretty much decided that Cole will take a break from karate after he gets his next belt. Our 6 month contract will be up by then, and there will be no point in continuing if we don't want to pay triple the money for the required classes after that time. Cole wants a black belt but he also wants to play football, basketball, and baseball. I just can't see how spending tons of money and 7 hours or so a week is necessary for a 7 year old. And I sure can't justify traveling 6-12 hours to go to the required tournaments just to achieve a black belt. Tournaments where every paying kid gets a trophy and scores almost the same amount of points. Okay, I need to stop because I'm starting to get heated over the situation again.
On a brighter note, and the actual point of the post...We are SOOO very proud of Cole for working hard to get his yellow belt. He picks up every move so quickly and knows the names long before most of the kids. The instructors often have him lead the class on the forms and demonstrations. He absorbs it all like a sponge and performs like a champ under pressure.
Even though the instructor is on the side, Cole looks straight ahead and actually stays focused on what he supposed to be doing. As he gets older, I hope that he is always confident in his abilities, what ever they may be, and uses his strengths for greatness. And hopefully he will learn to be humble along the way as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment