As we ate our evening meal yesterday my 5 year old told me that she did Karate in school, which was a bit of a suprise to me as i have not seen any permission slips for such an activity.
I asked her what she did and she said "i had to kick the teacher in the belly."
I then asked her if they told her it was wrong to hit people (which i have tried to instill in my children) and her reply was " they said we musn't hit the other kids in school while the teacher is looking".
So today i took time off and visited the school to discuss the merits of such a program and my concerns.
I spoke to the instructors (professional instructors that run a school here) and the coach who admitted he should have checked with the parents before taking an after school activity into the daytime, but said that they tell the children that it is only for self defence against "bad people" and "bullies"
My concerns were that a 5 year old doesn't comprehend that they shouldn't go around kicking people after they have been told to kick the instructor....(evedently many kids were "kung foo fighting" on the school bus journey home)
I have to say i like the teaching of "not talking to strangers" in schools...it back me up on what i tell the kids but it made my blood boil the way that profesionals didn't think of the can of worms they could be opening and didn't bother checking with the parents first.
do i sound unreasonable?
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