LOSE A STRIPE...OR A BELT :O

My kids are in karate. They love it...love, Love, LOVE it!!!!! And I love that they love it.

Enough using the word "love."

They have advanced to "gold belts" and their earning of stripes and advancement slows down more with each advancing belt because requirements for each belt get more difficult. They receive red stripes for discipline during classes and for three agreed-upon requirements of parent's approval done for 2 weeks at home. Black stripes are for belt advancements.

Last week I had to have a chat with one of the instructors about Faith's behavior. Basically, I ratted her out and I felt horrible about it. However, she has really been a stinker lately and I needed to bring in some reinforcements to get my "falling-on-deaf-ears" message across to her. Since summer break she has become more and more "sassy" with the biggest problem being her not listening and telling Scott and me, "NO!" Add whining to that and then turning on the tears when she didn't get her way and you get a pretty good idea of what we've been dealing with. Any chance of "talking her through it" was unsuccessful (she's stubborn...like her mother).

So...after talking with the karate instructor, Faith was brought into the office and she, the instructor and I had a little chat. The instructor was nice...but firm...VERY firm...and suddenly I was feeling horribly guilty about ratting her out. At one point I looked at her little face and saw her as a toddler again. Her answers of, "Yes, sir." and "No, sir." were causing my guilt to increase with each second of our meeting. At one point she looked at me from the corner of her eye and gave me a look of, "I can.not.believe you told on me." Ouch.

The instructor told her that should she continue to sass and back-talk and hit her brother with pens (did I forget to mention that part) that she would either have a stripe removed from her belt or...even worse...have her belt taken away. There was always the opportunity to earn the stripes or the belt back, but he didn't think that either one of those would happen because he knew...he just KNEW...that she was going to do better.

When he told Faith that she could lose a stripe or a belt...WOW! That's what it took for her to understand. Never mind that Scott and I have threatened to take away a toy, make her have quiet time in her room to collect her thoughts and emotions or flat-out have a time-out on the bench in the back-entry. Nope. None of that mattered as much as losing a stripe or a belt.

Just like that, she was back. It was like the "naughties" just fell right out of her and she went back to being the sweet...but still stubborn-in-a-good-way...little Faith that we know she is. She shared with her big brother that she didn't want to lose any stripes or her belt cuz' that would be bad. The three tasks on her list of Karate "to-do" are:

1. First time listening
2. Talk respectfully
3. Hands to yourself

And she's been doing all of them every day since her little chat with the instructor.

Now...speaking of her brother...Parker's tasks include piano and reading and here and there he'll miss a day..."accidentally" of course...even though I'm giving him many reminders throughout the day. I told him yesterday that just like his sister, he could lose a stripe or a belt for not getting his stuff done, too, and that I wouldn't be afraid to rat him out either. Like his sister, he did.not. want to lose a stripe or a belt...

...and he has his reading done already today!

See...I told you I love Karate!

Peace and blessings to your day.
Jeanine