Gabe's First Karate Class

Gabe had his first karate class today. He was very excited. Very wired. Very much bouncing off the walls. Literally.  Then a wave master landed on his foot and Sensei did not take his complaints seriously when he said he got hurt and, well, that kind of ruined the day. (Have I mentioned I have a few slight issues with this Sensei? Like his blatant favoritism and inability to relate to small children while also constantly complaining to his older classes about his younger students?)

Anyway, by the end of class Gabe seemed to be a bit happier and was again excited when we were home so I'm hoping next week will go better. Here's hoping. And for those counting, this makes 7 kids in karate class.  And, yes, that was my two-year-old doing karate in the middle of Mass last weekend.  Trust me, it's cuter at home when the venue is more appropriate.

Karate Class

I've decided that I totally suck at trying to get pictures while the children are moving.  Yes, there is a setting on my camera to make it easier.  Yes, I always forget to take the time to switch over to it.  Yes, perhaps that is a sign that I am a tad lazy and complicating matters more than I need to on a regular basis.  And yes, it means way too many pictures end up out of focus. Sigh.

Anyway, half the class was unable to attend karate this afternoon so I thought I would take the chance with fewer kids in the way to grab a few pictures.  Just the middle kids since the older two are in the adult class. Please ignore the slightly goofy karate instructor.  I swear some days he's worse than the kids in the class but perhaps that is why they seem to click with him so well.

Karate Testing

Last week the older boys had testing week in their karate class. Both advanced to orange belt.  This week, the younger kids had testing week in their class.

 Abby joined the class several months after the other kids so she is not as far along as they are at the moment. She received her second stripe on her white belt today.

Katie, Liam, and Kieran all advanced to orange belt today.  I don't have decent pictures because the camera battery died on me but such is life. I tried. I will admit that I am slightly wondering what it takes for you to not advance to the next level with their instructor but maybe as they continue to progress, he'll get a tad stricter.

Escaping from Karate

While the older five attend karate class, I have to find something to do with the younger four.  Usually I also have two other kids that I need to watch as well.  Normally occupying a few kids would not be a big deal for only an hour.  But for some reason during karate class, the kids always get out of control and loud.  We are allowed to hang out in the back room at the karate studio and they have a wonderful area for the kids to play.  Unfortunately, the room also tends to echo a bit and get loud.  Add to that one child who is a wee bit sensitive to everything so he gets upset easily over what we consider normal not even worth noticing bumps and such in our family.  And for the last 15 minutes, the older folks have a private lesson so all of the other kids converge on the back room bringing the noise and chaos level much higher than I like.

Yes, all normal ideas have been tried to contain the sheer chaos of the back room during karate.  Snacks, toys, games.  Nothing seems to work and I frankly do not at all look forward to karate class because I do not like dealing with the back room of chaos. 

Over the past few weeks I have started taking the younger kids for a snack instead.  Between the walk to the store, having a snack, then walking back to the studio, the kids are kept occupied and we usually only have about 15 minutes left in class.  Last week we actually sat and quietly watched the last of the class instead of having to go to the back room at all.  I loved it because I feel like I am missing out on what the older kids are doing since I never get to watch the class.  Granted, part of the different feel last week was a few missing kids but overall, taking the younger ones out for a walk/snack has made a difference.  Can't say I love hanging out during karate class yet but at least I'm not dreading it every week anymore.