Karate Kids

Clever title, right?    Kyrie’s gi finally arrived, so I had to snap a picture of our karate kids before class tonight!  They’re showing off some of their karate moves, too – Kyrie is doing a tsuki (sue – kee), and Asher is doing a Jodan uke (joe – dawn – oo – kee).  It’s keeping us really busy (classes are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 45 minutes each time), but it’s been really great for them! Kyrie especially has really benefited from it, and we are already noticing a huge increase in her stamina, speed, and coordination. One of the biggest reasons we put them both into karate is because we loved how this sensei focused so heavily on respect and obedience. Both kids are getting much better at that! I think it helps that we can threaten to tell their sensei when they misbehave, though. He’ll make them own up and do extra push ups or laps if we give him a bad report! It’s great.  (Thankfully we’ve never had to give him a bad report – they always shape up fast when we remind them! )  He’s the nicest sensei – very gentle and kind, genuinely loves the kids and what he does.  But he’s also strict and makes them answer up (always demanding a “Yes, sir!”), so they have a lot of respect for him since he’s got such a good balance of being firm yet kind.  He hugs them all after class.  We sure love this dojo!