I Am Popular

... with two out of four siblings in one particular family.

There is a family of four siblings, ages 8, 10, 12, and 15. For Christmas, their parents gave them one month of karate lessons. The 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds take children's karate, and the oldest does the adult class.

The first night that they came to class, the 8-year-old had a really tough time because she couldn't pick it up as fast as her two older siblings. At the end, I gave her a little pep talk, telling her that when I first started I thought it was really hard too, and I never thought I would get any of it, but now, here I am, teaching karate. I encouraged her to keep trying and not to give up.

The next class, she brought me a painting that she had done, as a thank you. I was very touched, and resolved to hang it on my fridge at home.

Then last night, the second-youngest daughter brought me a thank you card that she had made. I was touched by that, too. She drew a picture of somebody doing karate on the front of it, and she wrote "Ms. Rebecca Sensei" (haha!). Then inside she wrote that she was grateful for the karate lessons, and that if their parents hadn't decided otherwise, this would have been their last class, but luckily the parents decided to sign them up for another month of karate.

I'm really glad that their parents did decide to sign them up for another month. While the class is relatively inexpensive, only $25 per month, with four kids that adds up to $100, which is a considerable sum. But the kids really love it, and I think it is well worth the money. Plus I really enjoy those kids, because they are hard-working and motivated.

I think that the 12-year-old is going to switch to the adult class, a move that I recommended to his mother. He is a lot more mature than all the other kids in the chidren's class, and he picks things up a lot faster than they do. Also, he is almost as tall as I am, and a good head taller than the next tallest kid, so I think he really belongs in the adult class. I recommended that the 10-year-old move up to the adult class too, but I think for now she's going to stay in the children's class. It's going to slow her progress somewhat, but I guess she is young enough that the mother didn't want her staying up so late for the adult class, which ends at 9:15 p.m.