Hi Yah!

We have signed Kaitlyn up for karate classes that are being offered at her daycare.  The dojo comes to the center on Tuesdays and will accept children starting at 2.  Her first class was yesterday and she absolutely loved it.  When I got home from my late meeting yesterday, she was all excited to show me her karate moves.  She kept running around the house yelling Hi Yah!  Then she would jump in the air and try to kick both legs out.  Not really sure that's what they taught her, but that's what she came away with.  She also said she learned to do elbow drops and it was really cute watching her do it.  She had the biggest smile on her face while she was "demonstrating".

We have already had the talk with her prior to her starting classes that she was not to use what she learned in class on anyone, especially her little brother.  I'm sure they also reinforce this in class because any good Dojo would teach their students that karate is used as a form of exercise and to teach discipline.  Kaitlyn has never been an aggressive kid, so I'm not really worried about her trying to drop and elbow on any of her friends. 

I enrolled Kaitlyn in karate for many reasons, one being I want her to gain a lot more self confidence in herself.  She's a little shy when it comes to defending herself and I want her to be able to tell the more aggressive children what she's feeling without having a meltdown like most kids would.  She has such a little voice that people don't always hear what she's trying to say and I want her to be able to use a big voice to get her point across.  (Note I did not say loud voice.)  I also am tired of her not trying things or giving up on the first try.  I'm hoping karate will teach her perseverance and to keep at things until she gets it done.  I also want Kaitlyn to participate in many different things and this is a really convenient way for her to be active.  She's too young to be running from soccer practice to dance classes to piano lessons, but she's still involved in an activity.  It's really a win win situation in our household and even if she doesn't stick with it in the long run at least she can say she knows karate.