Karate Moms: We Love Them So

Our dojo would be a sad place if karate moms were not an active part of it. Not only do they support their kids in getting to class. They facilitate making sure karate tuition is paid. And they try their best, even when it’s a hectic day, to get their children to the dojo on time and prepared. There are many other moments that stand out as well, when karate moms just shined as the stars of our dojo family.

KARATE MOMS HELP THE DOJO

Karate moms do so much for the dojo. They often volunteer their time to help out and it is much appreciated. We have had karate moms who took the time, after a long weekend of Spring Camp, to help us complete our cleaning of the dojo by organizing the kitchenette cupboards while they put things away. And they used it as a hands-on teaching moment when they had their kids help out too. When we moved, we had karate moms take time out of their day to help me pack all of the small office items. And also to get a head start on moving those boxes and other smallish things to our new location. Karate moms share their individual talents too. For example, there was a karate mom who made us a soft soccer ball to add to our equipment which we use regularly.

KARATE MOMS HELP IMPROVE CLASSES                     

There are times that karate moms help their kids to excel at the dojo. Even when it’s for her own kid, this is still noteworthy. Most moms, most of the time, are willing and they happily volunteer to hold targets during class activities. This is not needed to keep the class going. But it sure does help make it more dynamic, fun, and exciting for not only their kids but all of the students in class.

KARATE MOMS HELP THEIR KARATE KIDS

A couple of moms in particular stand out as supporting their kids. One of them brought her son late to class. Our etiquette says that when you are late, you do push-ups at the side and wait for the teacher to bow you in. This mom said, “It was my fault we were late so I’ll so push-ups with him.” And she did. She didn’t try to get her son out of the consequences of tradition. She just acknowledged her part in it, and supported him by doing this difficult exercise at his side.

And there was another mom whose daughter decided to take on the project of mending our hand targets for her brown belt community service hours. This was with her mom’s support. This mom had sewing skills and she helped her daughter to locate the correct needles and thread that would work for mending our much-used targets. With this karate mom’s help, her daughter developed her sewing and mending skills and gave us hand targets as good as new.

KARATE MOMS HELP THE DOJO TO BE A FED AND FRIENDLY PLACE

We had one karate mom shine by baking cookies with her kid before a belt test. These were not just any cookies. They were karate people cut outs, with icing uniforms and different colored belts for each of the colors on the test list. After the test was over, her son happily shared with everyone. We have had a lot of other karate moms share all kinds of baked goodies at the dojo. The important thing is not that we got our sweets. It is that this allowed us time to spend a few minutes relaxing together and socializing. In that vein, karate moms also help a lot with the meals and snacks at Spring Camp. They spend their time and care to set up a nice meal or snack and help serve it so the process goes so much more smoothly. Some karate moms even bring food, lovingly prepared and generously given. And karate moms are the best when it comes to delicious potluck dishes!

And those are just the karate mom moments that easily come to mind here at East Valley Martial Arts. I know that karate moms do so much more for us. Additionally, I have met many more awesome mothers of martial artists involved in the United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance. Like the moms at our dojo, they are so supportive and positive. We martial artists from all over see them shine with the beauty of love and support. Happy Mothers Day to all of you karate moms!

-Jenifer Tull-Gauger