Everybody was kung-fu fighting...

This past Saturday Ian tried out a kung-fu class. As you all know, he has been taking ice skating and hockey for almost a year now. He has a great time skating and does well with that, however, he isn't catching on to hockey that well. As it turns out, he is getting none of the stuff that I was hoping a sport would give him. I wanted him to interact with other children and learn how to take direction from other adults, and have a good activity to keep him active and fit. Well, it is good for keeping him active and fit, but he really doesn't have much socialization with other kids and the coaches were doing nothing to follow through with him. They give directions and if he doesn't follow them, he is just ignored and left to his own devices, which needless to say does nothing to encourage him to listen to other authority figures. In fact, I personally think it is hindering this!

So, after much deliberation, Brady and I decided to let Ian try the kung-fu class again. I discussed my concerns about the hockey program to the manager and he assured me that kung-fu is a great activity, especially for kids who are a bit, shall we say "distracted". The classes are smaller and the children are required to follow direction, to sit, watch, listen and learn and most importantly, when they begin to get distracted, the instructor reels them back in. We took him in and he tried out the class. Things went well. He paid attention, for the most part, and when he didn't his "Sifu" pulled him back in. The only down side is the class is held in a gymnastics gym, so he was wondering why the class didn't go jump on the trampoline or hang from the bars. Either way, I think we will take the month of April off from any activity. I am leaning toward the kung-fu class, at least for awhile. Ian needs to learn a bit more about team sports and how to focus. Once that is achieved, if he still wants to play hockey, we'll let him. Otherwise, he can continue with kung-fu and I am more than happy to take him ice skating whenever he wants. I certainly don't want him to lose that skill, he worked hard for it!