Thank you, country singer Chris Young, for adding to my parental guilt and inner conflict this week.
I am extremely gifted in the art of arguing. What makes me so gifted? I have the ability to see both sides of just about everything. On the one hand, I am excellent in arguments. On the other hand, I can be completely indecisive. Or maybe I’m not. But maybe I am indecisive. Let me think about that one.
So the one I am currently struggling with is this: Is it okay to let my oldest son quit taking karate? We took the 4yo and the 6yo to try out karate after Daddy took them to see The Karate Kid. Both loved it, so we signed them up for a year. That was 7 months ago. And no, I still do not have a karate kid.
I do, however, have two very different little boys. I actually have three, but we are only discussing two right now. So let me tell you a little about each of them:
The 6yo—Loves all things learning. He loves school, books, movies, science and art. When I force him to play outside, he asks if he can take a book. He refuses to ride a bicycle. When he was four, he wanted me to do the entire Harry Potter series as a read-aloud. On his first trip to the library, all of his friends were checking out Rainbow Fish. He brought home the Old Testament. The OLD TESTAMENT! What kid does that?!
The 4yo—Loves all things with wheels. For Christmas he asked for a dirt bike, a drum kit and a half-pipe. Thank heavens our homeowners association will not allow the half-pipe! He rode his bike on 2 wheels at three years old. He has a skateboard, rollerblades, a scooter and a bike. He is as gentle-hearted as they come. He enjoys running and jumping and yelling and playing. His favorite part of school is recess.
Back to karate. Around Christmas, the 6yo said that he really did not want to go to karate anymore. After the first month or so, he was never really into it, but I thought we should just let him ride out the year. The 4yo, on the other hand, begged me to promise to let him go long enough to get his black belt. I am pretty sure he thinks he will be a ninja before he is in first grade.
Then I began to notice something. My super-athlete was being slack! I mean REALLY slack. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure black belts don’t cheat on their push-ups. I watched a little more closely, and I realized the culprit in all of this. I have mad detective skills. I watched, and the big brother was setting a bad example! Heaven of heavens! Who has ever heard of such a thing!
Porkchop (a.k.a. hubby) and I sat down and discussed the situation. The karate situation, not the Jersey Shore Situation, though that would probably be pretty funny. Big Brother had decided adamantly that he would not be pursuing further training in karate after his sentence was up. Little Brother was watching every move he made. We needed to review our options.
Now Chris Young’s song “I hear Voices” says, “Quit that team and you’ll be a quitter for the rest of your life.” Those were the exact concerns I was having. Well that and the fact that in 3 months I was going to have to shell out $280 for sparring equipment for 2 kids.
All said and done, Porkchop and I decided that, since he gave it a go for seven full months (and it would save us $140), Big Brother could throw in the towel. Maybe we are bad parents for giving him early release. But I am pretty sure that it will be better in the end. He may not be my karate kid, but he will probably be my evil genius.
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