Aikido of San Diego has been running an enthusiastic children’s program for kids 7 to 12 since our doors opened in 2000. The goals of the Children’s class are to develop foundational Aikido skills in body and awareness, learn Aikido technique and falling/tumbling skills, and build faculties for working with others.
EXPECTATIONS OF PARENTS
Parents are welcomed to stay and quietly observe classes. Please take phone calls outdoors. It is expected that parents do not unnecessarily communicate with their children while they are in session on the mat.
If you are dropping off your child and not staying, please do not do so more than 15-minutes before the start of class (call in advance if you need to drop off earlier). Please be at the dojo for pick up at class ending time—not after it please.
Please bring a drink for your child—especially in the warmer months. Bottled water is available at the dojo and costs one dollar. Please give your child a dollar for bottled water if you don’t supply them with a drink.
There is a small fee for each exam administered, and is due before your child’s exam date. It’s presently $25. Please don't wait to be asked for the exam fee.
EXPECTATIONS OF CHILDREN
The primary requirement of all participants in the children’s class is attention and appropriate behavior. Growth and improvement tend not to move forward when those aspects are deficient. It also tends to draw time away from the class at large. If your child has challenges with attention or behavior, it should be brought to Sensei’s attention from the beginning. It does not mean that your child won’t be allowed in the class, or treated differently. The instructor is an educated teacher and familiar with these issues. They will be handled appropriately. Those challenges, however, diagnosed or not, will not be considered justification for ongoing inappropriate behavior that effects the class at large. The following policy exists in regard to that:
When a pattern of inappropriate behavior or attention deficit on the mat becomes apparent, parents will be notified and given a list of actionable requests for improved behavior. The child will then enter a discrete two-month probationary period. If sufficient progress has not been made during those two months, the parents and child will be thanked for their time at the dojo and the student will be dismissed. Every effort on Sensei’s part to accommodate atypical circumstances will be made.
The following is a minimal list of expectations for behavior at the dojo.
When bowing in or out of class, or when Sensei is demonstrating and/or explaining, kids are expected to quietly sit in a line with their backs straight, heads up, and their attention clearly on the subject of the moment.
While engaged in practice, kids should be focused on what they were asked to do, and not lost in unrelated activity or conversation.
Children are expected to treat one another kindly. Speaking negatively of a classmate, hitting a classmate, or forcing a technique out of anger or frustration on a classmate are examples of unkind behavior. Thanking a training partner after practicing, speaking with classmates in appropriate ways, and treating the bodies of training partners respectfully are examples of kind behavior.
Kids in the children’s class are expected to display awareness on the mat that extends beyond themselves. That means sharing space, being attentive if/when they are waiting for a turn, and displaying a cooperative interest in group activities.
Children may not be argumentative with Sensei at the dojo. The instructor’s word is final, and needs to be accepted willingly.
ABOUT CHILDREN'S EXAMS
Children are offered exams after they have:
1. Reached the minimal amount of training days required for their level.
2. Displayed they can demonstrate the content.
3. Displayed a consistent positive training spirit.
Exams are scheduled on Saturdays and the dates are posted well in advance. There is normally an adults’ class at 9:00 AM that the child is expected to attend that day. The exams are at 10:00, and the children go first. Certificate and belt is presented after all exams are completed (kids and adults). If you cannot stay until that time, the presentation will be done at the next children’s class.
Children begin with a white belt and progress in the following manner:
