My kid's in a funk

[Shotokan-kez]

Hey i'm glad to hear he is bearing up with it! Sometimes they do just need a confidence boost. My ten year old reached purple belt and then gave it up, i was a bit upset but i had to go with what he wanted.

Sounds like your club and sensei really look out for the kids and have a good system going which is really cool!

[kkennedy219]

but i think it really depends on the kid- why'd he want to do it in the beginning?

Funny you should ask...it was my idea to get him started in karate in the first place. I had intened to wait until he was a little older, like maybe 7, since I figured a 4 year old wouldn't have the attention span or the discipline for that sort of thing. But after his baby sister was born, I just needed something to keep him busy, so I got him going in karate at age 4 1/2. BOY WAS I WRONG about the short attention span thing. He really surprised me...he followed directions really well and stayed focused the whole time. Now that he seems to be over his little sparring quandary, he seems to be excited about karate once again. Leave it to mom to worry over nothing (ya know how moms are sometimes )

He's singing in the school holiday concert tomorrow night, which he is really looking forward to doing, although he's mildly bummed about having to miss karate class.

[bushido_man96]

Hehe, well, it sounds like you've gotten things back on the right track, for the time being.

[kkennedy219]

Sigh. The funk has returned. My boy went back to class the other day, and on the way to the dojo he started whining about how he doesn't want to go because it's too hard. I don't know where this is coming from because to see him doing it, he is totally good at it, at least for a 6 year old. He's kinda stressed out because sensei has commented that my kid and five or six of the other 6 year olds who have been there a long time will be moved up to the next level class pretty soon, and he's afraid it will be too hard for him. I have told him (and sensei has told him as well) that he wouldn't be moved up unless sensei thought he was really ready for it, but it still freaks him out. Sensei has said he can stay in tiny tots a while longer if I think he's just not ready, but I know my kid well enough to know that he just needs a nudge sometimes. I'm pretty sure that once he had gone to the "Big Kids" class a few times with all his old friends from peewees, he'd be fine. My husband thinks he just needs to toughen up and bite the bullet. I don't know...maybe he just needs a break from it. I'd be bummed to see him quit because he used to love it so much and he does have a ton of potential, but I also don't want to stress him out to the point that he's a basket case.

The dojo is closed for the next 2 weeks for the holidays, so maybe the break will help.

[bushido_man96]

It really sounds like typical kid stuff. Just keep him encouraged, and let him know that you support him. Also let him know that there aren't a lot of 6 year olds out there doing something like this, and that it is very special that he has the opportunities to do these things. That may help. After the break, he may be ready to go as well.

[pegasi]

Perhaps you should have him stay and watch the class he'll be joining when he's moved up. Then he will see that it won't be that different from what he's doing now, and won't be afraid to be "graduated" from the peewee class. He may even realize that it could be better than the peewees since the older kids get to do more stuff than the little ones. Some new routines in class may even help bring his "spark" back into it.