Monday, January 23, 2012

The Sport that We Are Figuring Out As We Go!

So, C started karate the first week in January. He decided to take a break from baseball as he has played every fall and every spring since he was 5. He has been interested in karate for a while now. But, I must say that he has been twice a week now for 3 weeks and we still can't figure out exactly what we are supposed to be doing! I know C feels the same way. All of the commands that they yell out are in Japanese and their method of learning is that you just jump in, watch, and hope you figure it out. So far, C still says that he really likes it, but I know it is confusing for him! There was also confusion about which class he belongs in, I think we finally figured that one out after trying 3 different classes.

Last week he "earned" his white belt. I use the term "earn" loosely because the criteria for receiving your white belt was : 1) Obey your parents the first time they ask you to do something for an entire day 2) Clean your entire room, including under your bed 3) Try a new vegetable. #1 took us a few tries :) And #3 was actually more challenging that we thought it would be because C loves vegetables and has pretty much tried and liked every vegetable that he has ever been offered. Somehow he had never tried turnip greens, probably because I don't like them and so have never cooked them. He tried them at Cracker Barrel and LOVED them. So much so that he asked if he could drink the turnip green juice out of the bowl! Yuk! He said it tasted like "steak and asparagus".

Here is C waiting for the belt ceremony. (All of these pics are with my phone because I wasn't sure if you were allowed to take pictures. There seems to be all sorts of secret rules in this sport and I'm constantly afraid I'm going to break one that I don't know about!)


He is getting his new belt tied.



He is super proud of his belt, but you will never see him wearing it outside of the dojo (that's the word for gym). That's another one of those secret rules I didn't know about! Never wear the belt outside the dojo. It's a sign of humility.


Last Wednesday was family night. Thankfully, Daddy got home from a business trip about 30 minutes before it was time for karate, so he got to go be the participating parent! I think he got a workout!

3 comments:

joyof3boys said...

I can so relate to your comment about secret rules at the DOJO. I always felt like the other parents were burning a hole in me with their eyes as they watched me step on the mat to get Levi. Luckily, I taught Cayce's son, so she always let Levi crawl around and break a few rules. :) We miss karate, but we just have to do the summer program cause I don't think I can go to 4 lessons a week at two different times.

joyof3boys said...

I can so relate to your comment about secret rules at the DOJO. I always felt like the other parents were burning a hole in me with their eyes as they watched me step on the mat to get Levi. Luckily, I taught Cayce's son, so she always let Levi crawl around and break a few rules. :) We miss karate, but we just have to do the summer program cause I don't think I can go to 4 lessons a week at two different times.

joyof3boys said...

I can so relate to your comment about secret rules at the DOJO. I always felt like the other parents were burning a hole in me with their eyes as they watched me step on the mat to get Levi. Luckily, I taught Cayce's son, so she always let Levi crawl around and break a few rules. :) We miss karate, but we just have to do the summer program cause I don't think I can go to 4 lessons a week at two different times.