I Want To Quit!

So your son or daughter is having the best time ever with their friends outside and they hear those dread words.  "Time to get ready for Karate!"  All of a sudden the castles and dragons they built all day collapse, the adventures hit a brick wall, and the best day ever gets a cold bucket of make believe water thrown on it.  All because of stupid Karate.  The next statement by the child is time tested to get parents to given in and is "I don't like Karate anymore its boring" followed by the ever pliable parent way of thinking "well I don't want my child to things they don't like, even though I think it's really good for him or her."  And so ends another martial arts students brief time in something thats really good for them followed by the post regret.  Flash forward and in 15 years when we meet again the child now and adults says "you know I wish I wouldn't have quit I would be a Black Belt by now" statement.  Now I wonder if the parents allow their child to apply that same logic to school (The teachers hate me, its boring, I try so hard but I still get bad grades) or to a job or vegetables, house work, relationships and on and on.  Remember the other day when you were complaining about this generation of kids and how they don't do this or don't respect that?  Well welcome to the mess you have enabled to a certain extent (insert sarcasm and loving smile).  In fact we all have to certain degree including me forget to hold our ground from time to time.  So you get where I am going with this right?  Quitting isn't the answer nor is forcing them to do a healthy, positive, life changing activity like Karate.  So what's the solution?  About an hour or so before whatever the activity or event is start a countdown.  You have 45 minutes until we leave for (insert whatever your going to do -Grocery Shopping-Sisters Ballet) Karate.  Now that alone works pretty well but to go Master Level you need a bit more cunning.  About 30 minutes before you get ready to leave you pick a chore your child hates and struggles with.  You make them do it for that 30 minutes until it is done perfectly and correctly.  No skimping or letting them off the hook by doing an okay job (I mean come one your getting a chore done)!  If it takes longer than 30 minutes than of course they must keep doing the chore and another dreaded chore in place of going to Karate.  Now when Karate is the saving grace from picking up dog you know what in the back yard in 85 degree temps for an hour its easier to get them to want to go.  You could change it to reading, doing dishes, taking out garbage, vacuuming or cleaning the bathrooms.  The choice is always theirs and they learn the value of budgeting time, doing chores (without pay) to help the family and perspective on things that positively impact their life.  You won't get that from any other sport or activity, trust me.  It doesn't take long to mold positive behavior but I can take a lifetime to correct the negative ones.