Parental Knowledge of TKD

[miguksaram]

If your child was my student and you said that to me, I would respond that we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, I would refund every single dime you ever gave me and I would ask you to leave. We had parents in our state who had that attitude. They went from school to school and made a mess where ever they went. The "I am a customer, and I am paying for your service" attitude is to me a big red flag. Almost every instructor who has been teaching for a while understands what I am talking about.

I had/have a parent like this. My first experience with this was that I tried to be diplomatic and work with their suggestions. So my first advice to any instructors out there that have not experienced this yet; do not do what I did! As soon as you do they feel they can keep "suggesting" and you will keep adhering. When I stopped appeasing their every suggestion, it led to them quitting with the attitude that if I was not catering to what they wanted for their particular child ergo I was not doing my job. So lesson learned.

The next time this happened with another parent, I sat them down and told them that if they want me to customize a program just for their child then we will have to renegotiate a price for the lessons as the price quoted to them was for a set curriculum and they are wanting something different. I asked them to trust me to do what I have been trained to do for the past (at the time of incident) 25 years to do. If they feel that the curriculum we teach at the school is not what they want, then they are free to leave minus any penalties from breaking the contract early. If they prepaid the lessons it is up to them to decide if they give up the money, because we will not refund it, or continue at the school and let us teach.

We also have our fall back "Don't you have some shopping to do?" comment to parents who sideline coach when we are trying to teach. That is our most polite way of telling them to STFU.

 

[hal-apino]

Her instructor could or should have taught her that we salute the flag and not the dojang or the mat or the room. If no flag, then no salutation, whether that is a bow or your hand over your heart, at least in the Korean martial arts.

Not sure, Her first school was a Korean School and they were taught to bow in and out of the mat and the dojang. No mention of a flag even though there was a Korean flag.

 

[hal-apino]

I had/have a parent like this. My first experience with this was that I tried to be diplomatic and work with their suggestions. So my first advice to any instructors out there that have not experienced this yet; do not do what I did! As soon as you do they feel they can keep "suggesting" and you will keep adhering. When I stopped appeasing their every suggestion, it led to them quitting with the attitude that if I was not catering to what they wanted for their particular child ergo I was not doing my job. So lesson learned.

The next time this happened with another parent, I sat them down and told them that if they want me to customize a program just for their child then we will have to renegotiate a price for the lessons as the price quoted to them was for a set curriculum and they are wanting something different. I asked them to trust me to do what I have been trained to do for the past (at the time of incident) 25 years to do. If they feel that the curriculum we teach at the school is not what they want, then they are free to leave minus any penalties from breaking the contract early. If they prepaid the lessons it is up to them to decide if they give up the money, because we will not refund it, or continue at the school and let us teach.

We also have our fall back "Don't you have some shopping to do?" comment to parents who sideline coach when we are trying to teach. That is our most polite way of telling them to STFU.

Your Funny! Never interrupted a class and never side line coached my kid! Never needed to. Trusted her coaches! Liked her Coaches! She had qualified coaches! There was a mutual respect! That said, if I am paying then I have a right to question anything.

With your last comment; "Don't you have some shopping to do?"
My response would be Yes, for a new school! I would never leave my child alone with any school or instructor for many reasons and for an instructor to suggest that would cause alarm for me.

 

[hal-apino]

Never "had" to interrupt classes? That's unacceptable either way, I don't care if the instructor starts teaching Ballet, don't interrupt unless you perceive an immediate danger, which is a whole other ballgame.

Obviously you're not the best example, assuming you train yourself, but the problem with that is most parents don't really have any idea what the curriculum is, and once again the "service" you expect is for your child to learn TaeKwonDo. You do not need to tell the instructor what TaeKwonDo is. He knows. Otherwise he wouldn't be teaching.

Also, while your opinion as a paying parent is valid, it's just as valid for an instructor to refuse to teach your child because you've become a nuisance. Paying your monthly fees does not entitle you to dictate how classes should run.

Funny stuff

 

[ETinCYQX]

Funny stuff

We are not on the same page and we probably won't be, so let's quit while we're ahead, shall we? So far this has been civil and no one has anything to gain from allowing it to degrade.

 

[miguksaram]

Your Funny! Never interrupted a class and never side line coached my kid! Never needed to. Trusted her coaches! Liked her Coaches! She had qualified coaches! There was a mutual respect! That said, if I am paying then I have a right to question anything.

With your last comment; "Don't you have some shopping to do?"
My response would be Yes, for a new school! I would never leave my child alone with any school or instructor for many reasons and for an instructor to suggest that would cause alarm for me.

You are more than welcome to question. I invite parents to take an active interest in what their kids are learning. When I ever do a private lesson with a student I make sure to give a full report on what we worked on what they need to improve an any exercises they should do at home. I also follow up with an email with the same report.

If a parent has a question one what we are teaching or why we are teaching it, I have no problem with answering it as long as it is not asked while I'm in the middle of teaching their kid.

As for the "Don't you have shopping to do?" that is used when the parent is trying to coach the student while they are taking class or interrupting a private lesson or trying to tell me how to do my job. That is what I consider sideline coaching. If they are giving their kid advice on how to do something when they are not in class or on the floor, that is their prerogative.

Oh and we had a parent say "Yeah I can go shop for a better school." before. The simple answer was good luck with that shopping. I'd rather lose one student whose parent is extremely disruptive to the whole school then to keep them and let other students suffer because the parent feels they know better than our instructors.

I do take pride in knowing that no other school in our area comes close to the award winning programs that we have. Nor does any other school in our area have the amount of an experienced teaching staff that we do...especially for the low price.

 

[hal-apino]

You are more than welcome to question. I invite parents to take an active interest in what their kids are learning. When I ever do a private lesson with a student I make sure to give a full report on what we worked on what they need to improve an any exercises they should do at home. I also follow up with an email with the same report.

If a parent has a question one what we are teaching or why we are teaching it, I have no problem with answering it as long as it is not asked while I'm in the middle of teaching their kid.

As for the "Don't you have shopping to do?" that is used when the parent is trying to coach the student while they are taking class or interrupting a private lesson or trying to tell me how to do my job. That is what I consider sideline coaching. If they are giving their kid advice on how to do something when they are not in class or on the floor, that is their prerogative.

Oh and we had a parent say "Yeah I can go shop for a better school." before. The simple answer was good luck with that shopping. I'd rather lose one student whose parent is extremely disruptive to the whole school then to keep them and let other students suffer because the parent feels they know better than our instructors.

I do take pride in knowing that no other school in our area comes close to the award winning programs that we have. Nor does any other school in our area have the amount of an experienced teaching staff that we do...especially for the low price.

Thanks for your reply ! You sound as though you have a great school!