My daughter absolutely loves Karate. Unfortunately, after seven months of GREAT reviews and nothing but positive from her teacher... we ran into a problem. A few months ago, at Nora's previous Karate school, her teacher came out of the class with Nora and told us (in FRONT of Nora) that Nora is terrible. Nora sucks. Nora is this. Nora is that. It was SO unexpected considering we had been receiving nothing but awesome reports. It was also so FAST that we weren't able to shield her little ears from what was said. The Sensei told us that we need to decide whether or not Karate is worth THEIR (her and Nora's) time.
To say my husband and I were furious was an understatement. Nora is a child who rarely cries. She was upset. VERY upset. She cried for DAYS about what this teacher said and how it made her feel. We felt as if we were failing her because no amount of comfort was enough for her young soul.
We were SO puzzled by this. Was Nora really terrible? Parents weren't invited to view her class, and we rarely saw her in action. Was she really::that:: bad? And exactly how good do you have to be when you're only 6/7 years old? Wasn't this a SCHOOL to TEACH Karate? What in the what!?!?
The comfort Nora found was when we told her that we think she was unfortunately the victim of her Sensei's bad day. We speculated that MAYBE her Sensei was going through something and took it out on Nora. We told her that she could STAY in the school with that Sensei if she wanted to. She did NOT want to be with a "mean teacher." She very astutely told us that she can't learn from angry people. She did tell us that she wanted to stick with Karate, just somewhere else. We decided to let the winter month pass by without having an extracurricular.
Less than two weeks ago, Nora's class went to an assembly. KARATE! There is a Karate School less than ten minutes from home and they were showing the kids what it is they do in the class. Nora came home OVER THE MOON EXCITED. This child was PUMPED UP! She liked the teacher who ran the assembly, she learned some of her classmates were "there" at that school and she learned that some of her classmates were going to ask to sign up. At supper, she BEGGED us to go visit the school with her. My husband had taken her over to the school just for some information... however, as soon as she got there, they invited her to participate in a class immediately. Not only did she participate, but she also did WELL! The teacher was very impressed by her ability (she broke her first ever board!!!!) and invited her to become a part of the Family Karate Team All-Stars class.
Below you will see Nora signing her first-ever contract. She is in her new uniform. She also painted the board that she broke.
Sidenote: That board is painted with my son's very special paint markers. Both of my children LOVE art. My son has permission to keep his paint markers to himself. He was SO proud of his little sister for "rising above" and trying something NEW that he taught her how to use his very special markers.
I post this not just because it's a memory I wish to remember. I post this not just to brag about my kids. I post this because educators need to take notice of how their actions impact others. We say it to our students all the time.
Nora isn't what I'd call a "fragile" spirit. Her spirit was shattered by an angry/frustrated teacher with no data to back up their argument. Her previous teacher didn't hold in her concerns, she blurted them out and in return wrecked my kid's spirit for quite a while. I'm so proud of Nora for her ability to FORGIVE and TRY again. I'm incredibly optimistic!
