It's a wild and wondrous adventure when dealing with parents. So many needs and demands - its all we can do to stay sane. The kids are always great, so why is it that the parents are not? Walls. Well nailed and mortared, these structures can be quite cumbersome to scale. So what is the average karate teacher to do? I side-step with my words and polish the rough edges with my smile. But often the petty dialog can try one's patience to no end. So, let's share some funnies, shall we? I'm sure you have plenty of your own, but here are a few of my favorite lines from those "special" parents: Why didn't my son get a sticker today? (Their child was the most misbehaved student in class.) Put my son on the test list, I've decided he's ready. (Their child can barely kick.) I want credit for all the classes we've missed. (They took extensive vacations and random days off for other activities.) My son's not learning anything new - he's not being challenged. (A beginning student who can't focus enough to keep his fists tight.) Our whole group is not coming to the next tournament because the price is $10 more than other schools charge. (Spoken out the window of their Mercedes Benz.) I need you to move the class time to 30 minutes earlier or I'm not renewing. I need you to change the black belt test to the following weekend because we have tickets to the baseball game that day. (Demanded 2 weeks prior to the test date, with 14 students scheduled.) Why does everyone have to get a trophy? I want my son to lose because that's what happens in real life. (Spoken by a parent who never smiles.) Why do the trophies have to be so big? It makes all the other trophies in his room look less important. (The kid was elated!) My son was so disappointed by the size of his trophy that he doesn't want to come back. And I agree with him. The trophy was too small for the effort he made. (Where do I start?) Wouldn't it be great if we could get every parent to enroll with their kids so they too could learn about life-skills? If only if were that simple. Instead, as studio owners, we are doomed to be the brunt of their bad days and responsible to make up for their lost childhood successes. So we try our best to promote on time, keep the kids challenged, create an easy schedule for their carpool needs, and make sure their child is a winner. And while we are doing that, we must practice what we preach and exemplify discipline, focus, respect, patience, and commitment, to name of few. Doing this day in and day out can be exhausting, and yet we persist. We are committed to the goal of helping children become empowered. Perhaps if we can do this for their children, then those children will in turn do it for them. Wouldn't that be nice? Perhaps the next generation of parent will enter a dojo with their child and be a role model for life-skills. Perhaps it won't be exclusively up to us. So, when the parent of today gives us the attitude, maybe we can be comforted quietly on the inside with the knowledge that we are serving the future parents. Why do we do this? Because we are teachers. Dawn Barnes is Director of Children's Education for NAPMA and is a 3rd degree black belt in Shotokan Karate with the World Karate Federation. She is the owner of four schools in Los Angeles, California with over 1200 children enrolled. She is the author of a new children's book series by Scholastic called The Black Belt Club. Email:dawn@karatekids.net