So, we’re about to have another grading, and this grading is pretty big for us. If we get our red belts then it means that we’ll be able to go to the classes with the other Red, Apprentice Black, and Black Belts. As we prepare for this grading however, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you how we got our green belts last year.
I’ll pick up the story from being a Blue Belt right before the grading where my husband and I had been told that sometimes the adults advance faster than the children. So, like any good parent, we start to prepare our kids in case they got a lower belt than we do. Some may consider this a scare tactic; we call it incentive.
After the tournament our forms and wood breaking were looking pretty good, so we focused on our Bo Staff form which was prompted by Master Landry mentioning that she was going to pick some of us to demonstrate our weapon forms at the grading. You see, she has her own form of scare tactics. I mean incentive.
The weekend before the grading, we finally heard that our kids would be performing their Bo Staff forms instead of us. Normally, I would be the proud parent and congratulate them. The problem was that my husband and I were practicing more than them at home, and still telling them that they might not make the same belt level. 
Let me tell you, it’s awfully hard to maintain that position when they got picked and you didn’t. Umm… thinking back on it now, most people would be re-thinking their strategy at this point, but not us.
I painted my toenails purple anticipating that we would get our Purple Belts and went to the grading. While we were lining up, Master Landry was finding out what our current belt level was by calling out our names.
“Mr. Austin”
“Blue”
“Mrs. Austin”
“Blue”
“Older Ms. Austin”
“Blue, Ma’am”
“Younger Ms. Austin”
“8 Gup Blue”
“Excellent, it takes the youngest Austin to know her right belt ranking.”
My husband and I looked at her in astonishment. Where did that come from? As far as I can remember we never reviewed our belt ranking with her. Hmm… maybe the kids are doing better than we thought.
During the grading we were all surprised to get our Green Belts including both of the kids. In the car on the way home, I could finally give them praise and be the proud parent that I was. The praise stopped however as soon as one of them pointed out that I wasn’t going to as many karate classes as they were. “You know Mom, if you continue to skip classes, then you might not get the same belt level as us at the next grading and then you’ll fall behind.”
Oh no you DI'INT! just say that, but I have to think positively about it. At least they listened to what we said and took it to heart. Its funny how my own scare tactics are coming back to haunt me however. We’re less than a week away from our Red Belt grading and they are right, I’ve missed a lot of classes lately and still messing up some of the forms that I’ve known for almost a year now. Apparently I need to step up my game or I will fall behind and never hear the end of it.
- Wendy Austin
Please keep reading! Below are some links to my past blogs as well as a link to the new community forum where YOU too can post your own comments and experiences with karate.
· Karate - Martial Arts Community Forum (IMA students and parents have a special area in this forum to discuss classroom ideas.)
