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Being in the same class room with your parents can seem embarrassing if not downright weird, especially if it is a class where fighting is encouraged. However, members at the Dubuque YMCA are taking a karate class that involves both parents and children.

Instructor Kyle Cox, father of six, first started teaching his own children the art of karate at home. Word spread across the neighborhood as other children wanted to learn. This all lead Cox to approach the Dubuque Y and ask if he could start teaching karate using their facilities.

“The first session we didn’t have a lot of turn out and it was difficult with having just all kids or all adults,” said Cox. “My wife wanted to get back into so we decided why not try a family thing, try a family karate class.”

One of the advertisement strategies used by the Dubuque Y was to host a Girls’ Scout Night to bring in the local area Girls’ Scouts. That is how Alyssa Honey first found out about the event and persuaded her father, Gary, that it was something that they should try together.

“She came home and she was really excited about and wanted to take the class,” said Gary Honey. “We felt that it would be a great thing to do together.”

The class has help out children that may be shyer as they can go along with somebody that they know such as parent or an older sibling. The main challenge of the class is trying to find something that is simple for the children to do but not simple not for the parents to get bored.

“What is really good about it is that parents can go home with the kids and work with the kids, too,” said Cox. “They can practice at home together and the adults pick it up a little quicker than the kids do and they can help the kids at home.”