# Not exactly Romper Room material....



## girlychuks (Mar 25, 2002)

My son, who is all of 19 months, accompanies me to my dojo every now and then- I pay a teen to watch him while I am in class. He likes to sit at the door and watch me. 

Lately we have been working out on the bags a *lot* As a result, he now puts anything vertical- large stuffed animals, the toilet plunger, chairs- down on the floor in front of him and proceeds to kick and punch the living daylight out of whatever. 

 Last night, I got home from shopping, and made the grievous mistake of setting a *full unopened* gallon of milk on the floor with all of the bags.  

I hear a tiny Kiai (yes, he kiais) followed by a thump, a crack, and a gush of liquid.

My son had put his *foot* THROUGH the milkjug. He stood there stunned, his foot stuck in the plastic jug, in a HUGE puddle of milk.

I was proud and upset at the same time.... the rug needs a shampoo now and it stinks.... and three bucks of milk gone... but he obliterated it!  *swells with pride*

Wish I'd taken a picture. I should get a pic of him nailing barney across the room and post it.


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## deadhand31 (Mar 25, 2002)

He must have learned that by watching his uncle. 

:roflmao:


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## tshadowchaser (Mar 25, 2002)

You can't blame him for imitating you. 
It is a shame you didn't have a pic. It would have been priceless.


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## Rob_Broad (Mar 25, 2002)

> _Originally posted by girlychuks _
> 
> *My son, who is all of 19 months, accompanies me to my dojo every now and then- I pay a teen to watch him while I am in class. He likes to sit at the door and watch me.
> 
> ...




KILL BARNEY!!!


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## Cthulhu (Mar 25, 2002)

Girlychuks, that was too cool.  Of course you know, now you have to try to recreate this so you can get a pic   This time, do it *outside*...and maybe with water instead of milk 

My two year old daughter likes to imitate me when I'm working the sticks at home.  Sometimes, it's impossible to do double stick or espade y daga work, because she always grabs a stick.  It's cute watching her try to twirl a stick taller than her, until she starts getting closer and closer to the TV.  Ain't so cute then 

Cthulhu


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## fist of fury (Mar 26, 2002)

lol thats so cool. :rofl:


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## Kirk (Mar 26, 2002)

Now that's just about the best story I've read in a long time!
Thanks for sharing girlychuks!  I'm still laughing as I type this!
I have a 2 month old, that I have do kicks while I'm holding her.
"Lift knee, and kick" I say as I manipulate her legs, LOL.  Now
I'm gonna try like hell to find me a teenager to watch her while
I'm in class!


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## tunetigress (Mar 26, 2002)

Girlychuks, I finally had to stop bringing my son, now 4, into the dojo.  He couldn't resist copying everything he saw, and because of his *youthful*  ( lol )  lack of judgement he began to indiscriminately 'practice' his 'skills' on unsuspecting individuals.  It don't take too many groin shots landed by a 4 year old ninja to realize that your kid has been watching way too much Karate!  Oh yes, and Daycare.  They didn't take kindly to his demonstrations either.  It was kinda cute when he was tiny like yours, but he's getting big and it just isn't that  funny when they are out of your sight when putting on these 'performances' and you have to do the 'damage control' later.   I am wondering how some other parents have successfully dealt with the 'babies' in their Kenpo families???  I'd really like to keep my son enthused about training in the future when he is old enough, but have had trouble convincing him not to do the stuff he has seen 'everybody else'  around him doing for years now.  The only thing that has cut down on this behavior has been the present 'out of sight, out of mind' approach.


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## Kirk (Mar 26, 2002)

> _Originally posted by tunetigress _
> 
> *Girlychuks, I finally had to stop bringing my son, now 4, into the dojo.  He couldn't resist copying everything he saw, and because of his *youthful*  ( lol )  lack of judgement he began to indiscriminately 'practice' his 'skills' on unsuspecting individuals.  It don't take too many groin shots landed by a 4 year old ninja to realize that your kid has been watching way too much Karate!  Oh yes, and Daycare.  They didn't take kindly to his demonstrations either.  It was kinda cute when he was tiny like yours, but he's getting big and it just isn't that  funny when they are out of your sight when putting on these 'performances' and you have to do the 'damage control' later.   I am wondering how some other parents have successfully dealt with the 'babies' in their Kenpo families???  I'd really like to keep my son enthused about training in the future when he is old enough, but have had trouble convincing him not to do the stuff he has seen 'everybody else'  around him doing for years now.  The only thing that has cut down on this behavior has been the present 'out of sight, out of mind' approach. *



Does your school have a little dragons program?  My school has
them, they're just the cutest things!


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## tunetigress (Mar 26, 2002)

Unfortunately, our school does not have a 'Little Dragons' Program  (believe me,  I've asked about the possibility)  as our instructor says he does not   'believe in them!'   Go figure!


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## Kirk (Mar 26, 2002)

> _Originally posted by tunetigress _
> 
> *Unfortunately, our school does not have a 'Little Dragons' Program  (believe me,  I've asked about the possibility)  as our instructor says he does not   'believe in them!'   Go figure!     *




MAJOR BUMMER!   Did he gives reasons as to WHY he doesn't
believe in them?


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## tunetigress (Mar 27, 2002)

Yes Kirk, he can expound upon it at great length.  He also does not 'believe' in Junior Belts or Cardio programs, or even doing team Katas at Competition!  To him it is all a stupid waste of time, none of it being 'real' Karate.   He puts kids (who last) through the regular adult belts in family groups with their parents. It was hard to keep my daughter motivated to stick with it at first, although now, after nearly 3 years, she is doing just fine and is totally enjoying herself.  She is now training alone, as I have switched to another instructor for my own training, as this guy also didn't believe it was necessary to stop wearing cologne, even after his stench took me down at a recent tournament, leading to a disappointing (for me) 5th place in Forms.  The scope and quality of a school's offerings seem to be limited only be the narrowness of the instructor's mind.


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## VampyrSoul2000 (Mar 27, 2002)

Damn, too bad. Just think of how good any child would be by the age of 18 if they could get in early *** possible. Yeah, they may not know why they are doing something, but it its fun to them and its something that isn't to destructive, they will keep on doing it. Then when the child is old enough to understand they will have the move down and can improve on it.

Then they can go out and find that stibking purple dino and kick it's tail!!!!

I really hate Barney. You don't even know.


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## Seig (Apr 19, 2002)

Tongiht I have a three year old coming to the class.  His mother really wants him in.  I think I'm going ot give him a chance...those of you who know me, pray for my sanity


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## tunetigress (Apr 19, 2002)

THREE YEARS OLD?????  That parent (jeessh must be her first kid) needs to get a grip.  Unless that kid is some prodigal genius type, (and she likely thinks he is) you are probably the one who is going to learn the most from this experience.  Have you ever been around three year olds?  No kids of your own?  Lets just put it this way:  three year olds are very easily distracted.  If you play with him, he may play at imitating your movements, and I'm sure he will look adorable doing it.  Most children are NOT able to remember and follow instructions consistently until around the age of 5.  Up until that point, they merely imitate the instructor's actions.  This type of rote imitation is what is used by the 'Suzuki' Violin method, which was where all this emphasis on preschool  training began.  My own training and teaching experience in 'Suzuki' methods, as well as decades spent in the field of education, have proven to me beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the main purpose for such instruction is to boost the ego of the parent.

I have had considerable experience over the past three decades in providing adults and children of all ages with musical training and instruction.   It seems to me that parents have seen too many hyped-up TV reports of gifted children who started lessons at age 3.  Well,  I have seen the actual results of children being pushed into overly structured activities, at far too young an age,  by overeager parents.   By the time they are teens, these kids 'just wanna have fun,'  leaving the much poorer parent to lament,  "I just cant understand why he/she has lost interest.   He/she was SOOOOO good at it after all these years.  It was all he/she wanted to do when they were little!!!"   If only our society could  let kids be kids when they are kids, young people  might just find the process of growing up to be a lot less painful.

So take their money and give it a shot, as I have done so as well in the past and found it to be a profound learning experience each and every time... for MYSELF!   :asian:


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## Richard S. (Apr 19, 2002)

whatever happened to letting a child have a childhood before trying to instill the degree of discipline required for martial art studies? stuffing a 3yr. old into a m.a. class is real cute, but its WRONG!............respects


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## Seig (Apr 20, 2002)

Hey Gang,
I kind of felt the way you do...but I too started at 3 and decided to give the kid a shot.  He came to class tongit, a freebie, and surprised me.  The kid listened and actually is pretty amazing.  He will be four in a couple of months and I also got his 10 year old brother.  Unfortunately, I am so small a school right now that I can't afford to turn away much business.  I hope it turns out to be a wise decision.  The only reason that I agreed to even try him out was because my sister's boyfriend (one of my purplr belts) recommended him.  The kid can already ride a bike, snow board and plays golf.... go figure.  I'm more worried about his older brother, he will need more attention.  It seems like all of my students are misfits.......


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