Peg Kerr's Journal

Oh I love the school in all other respects. It's not militaristic at all, it's a lot of fun, great teaching about not only karate but also about life choices and things that are hard for kids sometimes - like resisting peer pressure, like being honest, like helping others. There's always a lesson of the week: courage, modesty, courtesy, integrity, something like that. When the kids get advanced to the level of brown - something that she won't do for probably another 3 years, they are entering the phase of training for black belt and so they have to step things up a notch, and I understand it. The test for brown is the first time at which they really get into any serious sparring. The school also does not allow children to test for their black belt until they are 16, because they must be mature enough emotionally to truly carry the belt, sensei feels. Which I can also agree with - there are a lot of McDojo's around here and I see kids 7, 8 years old with "black belts" and I wonder really how that can be meaningful at all, other than to keep money flowing into the McDojo. But I digress. If she wants to stop, I'll allow her to stop. If Delia doesn't want to keep going, then she doesn't want to keep going, and it won't mean anything to her even if she does better than Fiona. Maybe having them in different activities is the key, although that's a giant pain with transport, I know. Meg says that all the kicking, yelling and jabbing is going to help her be a cheerleader when she gets bigger, LOL.