bugatabugata
Orange Belt
Malteaser's thread in the women's forum brought to mind an issue that I've been dealing with for a while and could really use some help with. There's a little boy in my class (around 12-13, or so), who's generally shy and quiet. However, over time he's warmed up to me and now thinks we're a) buddies and b) that I'm a fellow thirteen year old boy, so has started treating me as such. Namely, whenever the Master's explaining something and I have my back turned, he'll run up behind me, kick me in the back, then run away giggling. Same deal when we're sparring -- I obviously don't use full power on him and mostly try to go on the defensive, but he thinks it's absolutely hilarious to kick me in the shins, then run away. The problem is, he's got a good twenty pounds on me and it HURTS! Also, he's a black belt with a couple of years of experience on me, which is why he comes to the advanced practices. I can't bring myself to really hit a little kid, even though the situation's beginning to wear on me with every practice. He's a nice enough kid and I don't want to get him in trouble with the Master or his parents, but what the heck do I do? I'm worried that one of these days he'll manage to really injure me (without meaning to, obviously -- I don't think he's intentionally trying to be mean.) Any help, especially from those of you that are parents (don't have kids of my own yet, so no idea how to "parent" in these situations), would be much appreciated. (Yup, this whole thing would be extremely humorous, if it wasn't happening to me and my shins weren't constantly covered in bruises...)