I had been teaching youth for decades when I had children of my own,
(and of course my wife Maureen had a lot to do with it too.)
I once saw a baby gi at the mall,
and got it for my son Victor Michael.
Then I took him to a tournament Black Belt meeting.
He was 4 months old, and perfectly qualified,
after all he was wearing a black belt.
I always took my kids to the dojo with me.
Here he was helping supervise.
Both my son and my daughter, Caryn Alyssa,
attended with me.
And being around me, each eventually began training.
But each of them did many other activities,
such as dance, gymnastics, soccer. little league to name a few.
Always they only trained as a member of the class.
I had learned from many others
not to train them myself.
And yes both of them took early dance, my son too.
After all as a boy I too went to dance class.
In time each made their own decisions
as to what they wanted to do.
Caryn in the long run found her talents lay in different directions.
Michael, along with all his other activities, choose to keep training.
He was a very talented student.
Eventually in college he reached Ni Dan.
But when facing adult choices,
chose to move beyond karate,
and keep with is flute studies.
I am very proud of the choices each of them made for their life.
After all that is what parents do.
And in part I am happy each of them was exposed to my karate.
At least they understand what that meant to me.
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