Instructor kicked my son as punishment - now what?

[sensei8]

Make the instructor in question be accountable for their inappropriate actions. If you're under a contract, and you're wanting to void said contract, get with your lawyer to seek a possible breach of contract on the Sensei's actions.

Accountability!!

[KARATEKA911]

almost 30 years of training...I've been kicked, punched and struck various times during testing and such. However, it was never done with malice or under the guise of punishment.

I agree, this was abusive.

yeah you also probably didn't get out of line like some kids do , I seen a kid get nailed in the chest hard with a tennis ball for horsing around , from there on he started horsing around only after class , that's a life lesson you play when your not supposed to and will get checked " your gonna have to mine someone someday " its better to learn that at a young age then when older.

[Hawkmoon]

almost 30 years of training...I've been kicked, punched and struck various times during testing and such. However, it was never done with malice or under the guise of punishment.

I agree, this was abusive.

yeah you also probably didn't get out of line like some kids do , I seen a kid get nailed in the chest hard with a tennis ball for horsing around , from there on he started horsing around only after class , that's a life lesson you play when your not supposed to and will get checked " your gonna have to mine someone someday " its better to learn that at a young age then when older.

...'kids' do get of line, what happens next is up to the parent not a stranger! A person in a position of 'apparent authority'.

Witnessing something like this and doing nothing about it does not make it 'ok' either.

Sure correction is needed, but a physical attack...nah!

This was abuse, this was bullying, this is not a discussion, but fact!

In most of the dojos I have attended or watched 'punishment' given when things go wrong is given to all, in the form of pushups, situps squats, even isolation......etc.

This then brings in a much better correction cycle Peer pressure!

The problem either stops attending, or the problem learns, and all through none contact.

MA is about self discipline, balance, confidence mental attitude and self control it is not a means to make abetter bully.

[muttley]

almost 30 years of training...I've been kicked, punched and struck various times during testing and such. However, it was never done with malice or under the guise of punishment.

I agree, this was abusive.

yeah you also probably didn't get out of line like some kids do , I seen a kid get nailed in the chest hard with a tennis ball for horsing around , from there on he started horsing around only after class , that's a life lesson you play when your not supposed to and will get checked " your gonna have to mine someone someday " its better to learn that at a young age then when older.

...'kids' do get of line, what happens next is up to the parent not a stranger! A person in a position of 'apparent authority'.

Witnessing something like this and doing nothing about it does not make it 'ok' either.

Sure correction is needed, but a physical attack...nah!

This was abuse, this was bullying, this is not a discussion, but fact!

In most of the dojos I have attended or watched 'punishment' given when things go wrong is given to all, in the form of pushups, situps squats, even isolation......etc.

This then brings in a much better correction cycle Peer pressure!

The problem either stops attending, or the problem learns, and all through none contact.

MA is about self discipline, balance, confidence mental attitude and self control it is not a means to make abetter bully.

I completely agree with what you have said there Hawkmoon. This instructor has stepped over a line in his actions. He assaulted a young person for what? To prove a point that he reigns supreme in his dojo? Sorry but the martial arts do not need egotistical maniacs like that.

I don't know where this dojo is, but here in the UK I believe that all instructors working with children have to be enhanced crb (or is it DRS) checked, I would suggest that this instructor has no right teaching children and needs to be told so.

[sensei8]

Dojo discipline should NEVER hurt in any shape, way, and/or form!!

If a child student is more than the instructor can handle, then the parent, and ONLY the parent/guardian, should administer any discipline, and/or corporal punishment, if that's the way of said parent/guardian.

Instructors who 'abuse' their students should be turned into the proper authorities asap, and without any prejudice and/or reservation. Wrong is wrong!!

If an instructor had ever hurt my child, well, it wouldn't have gone well for said instructor!!

[andym]

A martial arts instructor is not 'in loco parentis'. Which was the reasoning behind corporal punishment at school in the old days. If a child - and remember this is a child, both physically and legally - gets out of line in class. He is removed, perhaps warned and allowed back , or banned. No instructor can be that desperate for the money not to ban them.

[FighterForLife]

isn't that the way it was done before ?

No.

Let's pretend it was for a moment. So what? Just because something "used to be" doesn't mean that it was "good", "right", "effective", or should continue at all.

Remove the karate context - what if this boy's teacher, Scoutmaster, or parent did the same thing as punishment?

You cannot automatically write off acts of violence on children just because they happen in white pajamas.

[andym]

To follow on from what FighterforLife says and responding to karate911's statement. Back in the 1970's when I started, it was rough. I was the first kid in the Dojo and in truth they didn't want me there. So, if I didn't get the block right, I got hit. I got roughed-up in other ways as well. As I said they didn't want this kid the class, I was interfering in the well established routine of the Dojo. They wanted to force this kid out : I was 13 years old (and 5Ft 9In)!

Massive difference between that and maliciously striking a 9 year old. There are far better ways - as repeatedly pointed out by so many of us - of dealing with this.

Up to the Bruce Lee craze, the minimum age in almost all Karate schools in GB was 16. Had I messed about, clowned, answered back or complained etc. I would have been simply told to leave and never come back.

[KARATEKA911]

ok , what happened to the kid since his discipline ? where is he does he still train at that dojo ? whats he like as a person since the incident ? did he learn from it ? does he resent martiaal arts ?

[ps1]

ok , what happened to the kid since his discipline ? where is he does he still train at that dojo ? whats he like as a person since the incident ? did he learn from it ? does he resent martiaal arts ?

In the original thread, the OP states that the child is now afraid to go back.