For what feels like years my children have been asking me to do martial arts. Thanks to a couple after school programs the opportunity finally arose. A couple years ago I did check out one place and the boys did really well in the trial but it would have cost $600 a month for the both of them and that is just too much. Especially with it being two classes a week for eternity.
The after school programs presented an opportunity for them to try it out and see how they liked it. Roland has taken to it quite well whereas Windsor has said he doesn’t like it but appears to perform quite well when given a task.
Now another curious thing happened with these after school programs. We got them signed up for one when suddenly a flyer came home for another. We ended up signing them up for both along with Abigail for one of them.
The one that all three are signed up for is every Wednesday evening for 12 weeks and it is run by a guy that appears to be doing community service. Imagine an older Johnny Lawrence from the first season of Cobra Kai and that is what this guy is. I am fairly certain he is only putting on this program because he has been drunk in public one too many times.
This weekend is the big sales pitch from that first program. All the kids have “earned” their white belt and have a special ceremony and pizza party this weekend. The big issue is they only earn their white belt if their parents pay the uniform fee and book classes with the dojo that put on the seminar at the school.
The big thing about it is Windsor doesn’t want to do it. That might be viewed as a negative by some parents, but it’s a big plus for us. That means we would only be paying for one kid if that is the direction he wants to go, and Roland has been very gung-ho about this martial arts class. He really enjoyed it and my rib cage can attest to the power of his punches.
I have no idea what the fees are or how difficult it will be to get him to classes and what the future interference with soccer and baseball will look like, but martial arts is a good thing, and if Roland really wants to do it and it isn’t close to $600 a month then maybe we can do it, or at least promise to circle back in the future.
David Huzzard Writes 