Discipline

I have always been skeptical about selling "discipline." Mainly because I noticed that a lot of the undisciplined kids in a Kung Fu class are often better fighters. Also in terms of problem solving thinking all in one way can be a bad thing. However, after I went outside to water the plants and Noah had a bruise and cut under his eye from Jonah (you see Noah is bigger and better at Kung Fu... so Jonah threw blocks at him... Noah could not even say when or how he got hit. There is more to fighting than strength or skill.)

Well in any case.. I was getting tired of this nonsense. So I came down hard on "discipline" the only way I really know how... which is to have a traditional Kung Fu Class. we didn't do 20 minutes of meditation... but we did do a ton of basics. Well, we did what we used to do for the adults classes. I realized that they were willinng to go through with it as long as there were ample breaks. The breaks were running a lap around the house (instead of walking in a circle) That way they got a change in scenery. They didn't do that great a job at the basics... but I realized that even crappy half moves warm the body up to do the full motion. In other words eventually it makes them better. Also it was more about the ritual of bowing and following directions and all that. How am I going to fit this into the schedule once school starts? Well I am going to be teaching Lion Dance at Nativity Prep and the boys will have to do that. So that's a given. At least it has been proven to me that they can do a full on adults class. And then the other days? I guess we will do it outside the house just like now. In theory I can even do it after dark if I turn the outside light on. It's just good practice lining up and all that. I think our household should focus on that and take a step back from the militancy on the other activities... like violin and chess. Instead these should be the things that are done in recreation for rest. We'll see how that goes though.