Last week we are out at the mall, and I'm off with Matthew and Kevin (I forget where) and meet up with Suzanne and Christopher....and find out that they have been waylaid in the middle of the mall by a representative from one of the local martial arts studios. Suzanne has a card in hand, it's a VIP thing for one month off a membership yeah yeah yeah.
Christopher, on and off, has mentioned he'd be interested. We, on and off, have thought that Christopher would benefit quite a bit from lessons, and, would like him to be more involved in *something*. With Matthew, this isn't so much an issue ("Hey Matthew, do you want to play x?....sure!"), but, with Christopher, any suggestion is followed by an adamant 'no'. So, we've learned, sign him up for something and see what happens, even if he goes kicking or screaming.
Day after the mall visit the calls start from the studio....hey, do you want to sign up? Hey, how about a private lesson? Finally, ask Christopher, he shouts "no!".....and finally tell the people we'll try the lesson, Christopher has said he doesn't want to do it, but, let's try it out. Lesson is Saturday at noon. He asks if he'll get to break a board before the lesson, we tell him, no, probably not....it will probably be pretty basic.
Saturday morning, time to get going. Christopher, are you ready? "No!" Come on, let's go. "No!". Just try it, it's only 20-30 minutes, go get changed. "No!". You're in a lot of trouble right now, let's not make it worse, go get changed......."No!"...but stomps upstairs and changes....
Get to the studio, we're the only ones there, plus the instructor. We talk with him a little bit, and then he shows Christopher some drills...how to punch "saying ki-ya!", how to kick, and how to do some self-defense moves, if someone grabs your shirt and if someone has you in a bear hug. He picks up on all of this pretty quickly, and especially does well with the bear hug maneuver. The last think he gets to do is......break a board! Instructor holds up a piece of wood....braces himself, "Ki-Yahh!", and Christopher has two pieces of wood! He's smiling up a storm....
So, the sales pitch continues after the lesson, we sit down, he wants to sign us up right then and there for 6 months, and the VIP card only is good if we sign up right then and there yeah yeah yeah.......and I had told them on the phone, wasn't going to make any decision until I could talk with Suzanne and Christopher after the lesson.
Surprisingly, they haven't called again....and we haven't called back to sign up. I think we might check out the other studio in Okemos, and I'm sure we'll sign him up at some point in the next month. Christopher is all for doing the lessons now. Private lesson. Lessons with other kids...that's a "No!".
