Sunday, February 19, 2012

Karate Kid

Par for the course at this time of year: Chad and I are both fighting bugs that don’t seem to want to go away. Not par for the course: February days in the 50s when you decide it’s smarter just to ditch the coat.

We had a fun milestone this week as Gavin was awarded his yellow belt in karate. It was his first belt advancement after starting karate in the fall. With several other kids, he spent two hours behind closed doors with his examiners at the dojo a week ago Saturday. When we showed up at practice on Tuesday, there was his name at the top of the yellow belt list.

Arwen and I took off our shoes and sat along the wall opposite the students as they received their new belts from Professor. I watched proudly as Gavin stood at attention, then snatched the gleaming golden belt from this mentor who strikes such a wonderful balance between strict and fun. I felt equally proud as Gavin stood respectfully and watched as the rest of his classmates received their belts. We celebrated by watching the Karate Kid for our Friday night pizza party.

When we were looking into karate last year, three times a week seemed like such a significant investment. It’s been great to see how those three hours spread throughout the week provide a focus-instilling force to our energetic, sometimes all-over-the-place Gavin. (It doesn’t hurt that we have a fantastic dojo within a five-minute drive of our house.) Karate is a great thing. Colorful patches on cool-looking uniforms and snazzy new belts don’t hurt either.

What extracurricular investments have you found to be the most worthwhile in your family?

1 comment:

Laura Oler said...

Most worthwhile would probably be violin lessons for us. it's a huge commitment for the parent because it requires so much practice, but I like the lessons that teaches. But my favorite has been gymnastics because it requires little time and effort ( we just do it for fun ), and all the kids can participate. The rewards of time commitment for violin probably have some similarities to karate....