How many of you teach your own children? Are you their primary teacher or do you teach them at a school in conjunction with a more senior instructor? What difficulties have you had and how have you dealt with them?
The problems I've had teaching my own children are mainly in that I am the one they're around all the time, so it's difficult for them to distinguish Mom from Jo Kyo Nim. Also, it's nice to have other adults reinforce protocol, push them the way they need to be pushed, etcetera. My middle child is only now becoming more serious about training and she's been training for 10 years. A child's ownership in their own training ... that's what I think can lack or lag behind when the parent is also the teacher.
I began teaching my Daughter when she was 3. We trained alone, as I was between schools, so with her I worked heavily on her owning her own training. I would only teach when she asked politely, there was no set schedule but we had a deal that when she wanted to train I would teach if she asked. We went that way until 2 years ago, she is 8 now and began to come to the dojo I am at 2 years ago. My son on the other hand just turned 5 and has only trained at the dojo, he did not have the years alone as my daughter did and it shows. When he gets around the other kids his energy is so high that he tends to get unrully especially when I am the only Sensei there. I don't want to disipline him to the point that he does not want to come but I also can't let him get away with his bad behaviour. I have not found a good solution yet. I tried getting him to "Set an example for the younger kids" but that only works once in a while and he is getting to the point now that pushups and other things like that do very little to affect his behaviour. I am not really sure where to go with him right now short of taking him out of regular class for awhile and running him alone like I did his sister. If I do that though it may seem to him that it is being done as "punishment" which would not be the case. It is so much easier with other peoples children.
I have two young children that I teach somethings to, basic perception skills and simple techniques to aid them should there ever be trouble. I am their primary instructor, as far as difficulties go it can be hard at times to make them listen to me as an instructor and not their dad or to get them to follow along as they'd rather rough house it with me than do the structured techniques that I try to work with them on.
I teach with the assistance of senior instructors. The issue that my son and I have had to deal with is that it was my son that wanted me to join TKD! He wanted to teach me! He wanted to be the one doing the instructing, not the other way around. Somehow, I wound up being asked to assist in teaching the Kids after school program that my son attends! He has accepted it, but he doesn't really like it!
