edshockley

The issue of appropriate behavior is discussed at our dojo. It was addressed informally for many years because all of the adolescents who joined the adults managed to be there in the company of a practicing parent. Recently that situation changed and questions of propriety came up. Should an eager adolescent be allowed to travel to winter camp in New York, for example?. Our decision has been to adopt a policy modelled after the school board. It seems better to error on the side of caution and avoid having to assess the character of each instructor and student(i.e. you can travel with person A but not instructor B). The specifics of our policy;
1) No over night trips without parent chaperon
2) Parental permission for day trips
3) Youth must be accompanied by two adults
4) If there is any misgiving, alert the senior instructor (this is not meant as an accusation, simply "let's be vigilant.")

Someone mentioned earlier in this thread the impact of abuse 25 years later. It seems better to have an eager youth wait a few years to enjoy the instruction of seminars rather than create any potential opportunity for abusive behavior.