Cooking and Karate
I know I can be on their case a lot but I really do adore my boys. And it is only because I love them that I want them to become their best selves. I believe that if you have high expectations of someone, they will usually live up to those expectations. It is when you drop your expectations that they lose the motivation to try.
Number 1 (L) seems to be coming into his own a little bit at a time... and he's turning into rather a nice young man, if you ask me. Admittedly, I tend to be rather biased when it comes to my kids but, hey, I'm their mom. I'm supposed to be their biggest fan.
I was rather impressed when L recently chose to participate in his school's extra-mural cooking programme. Sadly, all the delicious food prepared in the class is immediately devoured by the teenage chefs so I will have to take him at his word when he tells me what he made.
The other night I reached a new level of admiration for my culinary assistant. Mr Stubbles and I had to make an urgent trip in the early evening, when I would usually be desperately trying to get supper cooked. So, with some trepidation and minimal instruction, I left L in charge of of dinner and fled the scene.
On my return, I was rather pleasantly surprised to see that all that was left to do was to spice it up, and dinner was served.
Now 16 years old, L rose to the challenge when Sensai gave him the goal of moving into the adult/senior belts and get his green belt. I'll admit surprise at how motivated he became after we started to take him to an extra class on Wednesday evenings. He really seemed to enjoy the class and the higher expectations, quickly learning the Saifa kata, and showing a marked improvement in his techniques in general.
He was really tough on himself after his grading last week for having made an error when he couldn't hear an instruction clearly, and was really beating himself up about it. While I am certainly not an expert when it comes to anything Karate related, my humble opinion is that he was being too harsh on himself for an innocent mistake. It was difficult as a mother to watch him being so harsh with himself. At the same time, it was good to see that all these years of classes have not been in vain and that he does take his Karate seriously and holds high expectations of himself as well.
Number 1 (L) seems to be coming into his own a little bit at a time... and he's turning into rather a nice young man, if you ask me. Admittedly, I tend to be rather biased when it comes to my kids but, hey, I'm their mom. I'm supposed to be their biggest fan.
Culinary arts
Over the last year or so, I have slowly been training L to be more useful in the kitchen. Initially, he was given tasks like packing the dishwasher, grating carrots and making copious cups of tea, but we have slowly incorporated more cooking tasks such as making a white sauce, baking potato wedges, or frying bacon. Anyone who knows me knows how much I detest cooking so any help in the kitchen is really appreciated.I was rather impressed when L recently chose to participate in his school's extra-mural cooking programme. Sadly, all the delicious food prepared in the class is immediately devoured by the teenage chefs so I will have to take him at his word when he tells me what he made.
The other night I reached a new level of admiration for my culinary assistant. Mr Stubbles and I had to make an urgent trip in the early evening, when I would usually be desperately trying to get supper cooked. So, with some trepidation and minimal instruction, I left L in charge of of dinner and fled the scene.
On my return, I was rather pleasantly surprised to see that all that was left to do was to spice it up, and dinner was served.
Grading
Like his mother, my sweet firstborn tends to take himself very seriously, and lately he has started to focus his attention on his Karate.
Now 16 years old, L rose to the challenge when Sensai gave him the goal of moving into the adult/senior belts and get his green belt. I'll admit surprise at how motivated he became after we started to take him to an extra class on Wednesday evenings. He really seemed to enjoy the class and the higher expectations, quickly learning the Saifa kata, and showing a marked improvement in his techniques in general. He was really tough on himself after his grading last week for having made an error when he couldn't hear an instruction clearly, and was really beating himself up about it. While I am certainly not an expert when it comes to anything Karate related, my humble opinion is that he was being too harsh on himself for an innocent mistake. It was difficult as a mother to watch him being so harsh with himself. At the same time, it was good to see that all these years of classes have not been in vain and that he does take his Karate seriously and holds high expectations of himself as well.
Comments
Post a Comment