Character for Kids

Karate classes themselves build character by the way the classes emphasize good behavior, focus, and respect.  However, the Character for Kids program takes character education much further, by having your child practice good character habits at home and in school.

The program works like this:

1. Students earn character “bars”.  These are inverted V-shaped bars (iron-on patches) that go on their uniform sleeve.  A comparison would be the “bars” that military personnel wear on their chest or sleeve.
2. There are nine bars (nine character ranks). In order, the color of these character bars are: yellow, gold, orange, green, blue, purple, brown, red, and black.  Your child will work to advance through all of the character ranks, ending with the top rank – the black bar.
3. The way students earn the stripes is to engage in the character trait that is required for that particular trait at home and/or at school, and fill in the appropriate stripe sheet with instances of showing that particular trait (parents need to help the students fill in the stripe sheets.)  Once the sheet is filled in, a parent signs it, and the student brings it to karate and gives it to Dr. Flury or to a black belt helper. The student is then awarded with their stripe at the end of class that day. 
4. There are six character stripes required for each bar.  Students can earn a character stripe as often as every two weeks.  If they work hard at it, and earn a stripe every two weeks, then they can reach the black bar (the top character rank) in a little over two years (6 stripes per bar, multiplied by two weeks per stripe, multiplied by 9 bars, equals 108 weeks, or two years and four months.)
5. Each time a student earns a bar (remember, 6 stripes are required per bar), they are given a packet that contains the stripe requirements for the next bar.
6. Your involvement as a parent is necessary.  You will need to help your child fill out the stripe sheets, and be sure that they bring them to class to turn in
7. The nine character traits that are included in the program are: respect, self-discipline, courtesy, goal-setting, self-control, compassion, determination, excellence, and the pursuit of knowledge.  While there are many other character traits that would be good to reinforce, these are most of the main ones. Also, for a trait to be included in this type of a program it is necessary that the child have many opportunities at home to show this trait over a two-week period, so that they can fill up a sheet with instances of showing the trait.  (Honesty, for example, is an important trait, but we don’t always have many opportunities to show honesty (to not lie) in a two-week period.  On the other hand, with a trait such as courtesy, we all have many opportunities to show courtesy in a two-week period.
8. For every character bar (remember, six stripes are required for each bar), one of the six stripes is a“parent’s choice ” stripe!  For this stripe, parents choose what they want their child to improve on in order to earn that stripe.  If your child is having a problem being neat, or showing manners, or being nice to their siblings, or obeying mom and dad, etc., then you can specify that they fill up a stripe sheet with instances of good behavior in that particular area in order to earn their ‘parent’s choice’ stripe for their next bar. Again, there is one ‘parent’s choice’ stripe required for every single character bar (parent’s choice is one of the six required stripes for each bar). You can have your child work on the same thing for every ‘parent’s choice’ stripe, if they have a real problem in that area of behavior, or you can pick different behavior for them to work on for each ‘parents’ choice’ stripe!
9. Each time your child turns in a stripe sheet (should be every two weeks), they will receive their stripe in front of the class, with everyone clapping for them. Same with the bars. 
10. Each time your child earns a bar (not a stripe), they will also be allowed to pick out two colored stars for their uniform (these are iron-on stars.)
11. Once per month, we send out a paper announcement and an e-mail announcement  (so that you can easily forward the announcement to friends and family!) with the names of the students who   have earned character stripes and/or bars that month.
12. To show the kids how important the character bars are (how important good character is), students  line up at the beginning and end of class according to their character rank, within belt levels.  In other words, students already line up by belt rank, with the highest ranks at the front of the line (closest to the American flag). In addition, students also line up according to character rank – so among the gold belts, those with higher character rank will line up at the front of the gold belt section; among orange belts, those with higher character rank will line up at the front of the orange belt section, and so on.  (This also rewards the students who are working the hardest to earn their character stripes and bars!)
13. The character ranks are completely separate from belt rank. Two students can be the same belt rank, but be different character ranks.  It is also possible for a lower belt to have higher character rank (more bars) than someone who is a higher belt level, if the lower belt student is working harder on earning their stripes, or if their parents are more involved in helping them turn in their stripe sheets.
14. This is the only place where your child is so consistently taught good character and rewarded for it, aside from church and home.  Even other martial arts schools who teach character do not have a comprehensive character rank system.  We hope you will support their program and help your child do what they need to do in order to earn their stripes and bars! 

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