Gracie and Lukie have been taking karate for the last five months. It's been a really great thing for them, they've been learning about self-discipline and focus and following directions. Gracie has slowly been gaining confidence and Lucas has been working on following directions and keeping focused on the task at hand.
Lucas has so much energy that he sometimes forgets what he supposed to be doing. Today in class he was dangerous and went underneath the balance beam while two of the kids were trying to move it back out of the way. Master Jason asked Lucas to leave class 20 minutes early. Lukie was devastated and embarrassed, as he should be.
The problem is, that Lukie is harder on himself than anyone else is. He told me that he wasn't allowed to have any treats for the rest of the day or go any special places for the rest of the day because he has been kicked out of class. I'm not sure where Lucas has developed this feeling that he should be punished for every single thing he does wrong, but I'm hoping that in the next few months I can help him see that a mistake or one bad choice does not mean that he has failed or that he is a bad child.
