No time-out?

I'm so happy today that both Ethan and Noah finally got no time out at Karate!  There are only 2 more sessions left and today they finally learned to listen to the instructor.  What was the difference?  I gave them a practical incentive to motivate them to be good.  I let them choose a snack from the vending machine before class and told them they would get it as reward if they don't get time-out.  It didn't really work before when I tried to offer them snacks I brought, I think being able to put coins into the machine and "get" the reward yourself makes the difference!  The instructor commented they got A+ for being good at listening!  I do hope that they keep it up for the last 2 sessions.

I really appreciate the way the Karate uses games like "Simon Says", "Red light, Green light" to help the kids improve their listening skills.  I was watching from the door and saw that Ethan and Noah did pretty well with the games.  I believe that playing games is a really good way to develop certain skills such as listening. Sometimes it's more effective, in my opinion, then just telling them to pay attention verbally.

Another valuable lesson I learned is that, do not put Ethan and Noah in the same sports class, they just keep distracting each other and get too rowdy.  I always thought that they can bond more when they participate in the same sports, but I think they would thrive more individually if they join different class.  They would be able to focus more on learning rather than on each other.