Dear Parent,

I’d like to congratulate you on the wisdom and forethought to enlist your child in GKR Karate.

I feel passionate about GKR, and I’m very happy to see the difference it can make to the lives of students both young and old.

Some of the benefits are visible within just a few months – better fitness, confidence, and weight loss. Other benefits are hard to see at all, and may take longer to be appreciated. I’m talking about things such as self-discipline, improved inter-personal skills, and patience. You may never see some benefits. We hope that your child never has to defend him or herself, but it’s a valuable skill for him or her to learn.

As senseis, we are dedicated to delivering the very best karate that we can to your child, but we cannot do it all alone – we are partners with you in helping your child to grow as a happy, respectful, self-assured human being.

Our classes combine strong discipline with powerful you-can-do-it psychology. But that message counts for nothing if we are not all singing from the same song-sheet. All too often, we see students who encounter the inevitable challenges in training, and the second things get a little uncomfortable, the child asks to quit, and the parent allows them to do so. What kind of message does that send to the child!? When the going gets tough, it’s okay to quit immediately and do something easier! How is that any kind of preparation for the future challenges of education, relationships, or the work environment?

You wouldn’t let your child decide whether or not he wants to eat his greens, or go to school would you? Of course not! You understand that whilst these things may not always be popular with your kids, they are an essential part of their development towards becoming healthy, well-adjusted adults. I believe that karate is just as important.

All too often, some parents want to be their children’s best friends, at the expense of taking responsibility for their emotional growth. Parents who never discipline their children, or who never take unpopular decisions, all too often end up with children who are rude, demanding, unfit, have a short attention span, and are not particularly nice kids. All the best kids I’ve ever known have come from families that were loving, but where the parents took firm responsibility for the guidance of their children.

By joining your child, you have already demonstrated that you appreciate the wonderful benefits that GKR Karate can bring to his or her life. Now all I ask, is that you continue to work with your class senseis to guide your children towards becoming the happy and well-adjusted individuals that we all want to help them to be.

Even the very best students occasionally go through training blues. They may even want to quit. This is not the time to go easy; this is the time to work harder! Don't let them leave on a low, or how will they ever learn that problems in life, as well as feelings of frustration, disheartenment, or even boredom, can be worked through and overcome?

Determination, patience, and persistence are attributes displayed by most of the most successful businessmen and athletes in the world. Work with us to develop those wonderful virtues in your child!

This letter is a personal opinion, and does not necessarily represent the views of GKR Karate International.