Nasty situation

So something happened at karate.  I am still in 2 minds on what to do about it.  Ok let me fill you in and hopefully this process will help me too.

It was a regular Tuesday evening Karate class.  the boys (ages 5-7) were following the class and as boys are, messing around occasionally.  The moms were all watching/chatting while the class was going on.  Nothing unusual.  All of a sudden the Sensei called Jaime aside, told him to take his obi (belt) off, fold it and place it in his bag, confiscating it.  While this was going on, I was asking each mom what had happened.  Not one mom could tell me, there were at least 6 moms there.  No one had seen a thing.  Sensei then told Jaime to sit with me cause he is no longer part of his class. 

Needless to say, Jaime was distraught.  he ran to me in tears, crying so badly he could hardly breath.
When I asked him what he had done, he could not tell me.  kept saying he didn't know, he didn't know.

The Sensai then proceeds to walk up to Jaime.  At this point even I was scared.  He asked Jaime to stand in front of him.  Jaime is still crying hysterically.  I stand with him.  He then reams Jaime out in front of everyone.  So Jaime pushed someone.  Ok.
 
I cannot explain to you how scary this whole event was.  It sounds so tame, but the Sensei was so stern and his words so hard and harsh that I walked away with my heart pounding, and my stomach in a knot.   After class, every single mom came to check up on Jaime.  Apologized for the situation and hoped that we would return on Friday. I even had 2 moms checking in on Jaime that night. That alone says something.

Now I know and I understand that the Sensei was teaching Jaime a lesson.  That pushing is absolutely not acceptable in his class or ever.  However, not one of the moms had seen it, the boy he pushed did not even flinch, react or after class, explain to his mom what happened, so what type of a push was it?  was it out of jest? anger? ok ok a push is a push but did it really need discipline that extreme?
To crush his spirit so badly after taking almost a year to build him up?  believe me, I am on his side with the no pushing rule, Jaime is not allowed to watch TV till he apologises to Sensei on Friday, But I am definitely finding it hard to understand the calling out of class, the confiscating of the belt and the lecturing that went on, especially if it was boys being boys and they were messing around and they only 5yrs old! And why was Jaime the only one called on it.

One half of me just wants to rip his heart out, the other half is saying I need to support the lesson taught.  maybe I can do both.   Seriously, how do you protect your child from these situations, and protect I mean how do you protect his spirit, his confidence without mollycoddling him? 
No one said this was easy. 

So that was Tuesday.  For the next two days Jaime was extremely sensitive.  Any instruction would lead to tears.  He was even crying in his sleep.  Each day we tried doing things that he enjoyed, that made him smile, and proud of what he could do.  Besides Tuesday night, we did not mention the Sensei and what happened again.  We needed to teach Jaime that what he did was wrong, but that no one ha the power to destroy who you are besides yourself.  We will never be able to protect him from people all of the time, he needs to have the tools to protect himself. 

On Friday I made a concerted effort to go to karate, we were going to sort this out.  As soon as we arrive Sensei greats Jaime in a manner that was way over friendly.  Asking how he was and how he as enjoying summer. Jaime apologized :-) We then spent the next 10 min looking for a spot for the class (the venue is also used as a function venue).  The karate class was filled with jokes, fun and laughter.    Not only did Jaime get his belt back but he laughed and smiled and really enjoyed the class.  So my fear of his confidence been taken, was again just a fear.  he rose above it. 

Well to date, I still have not spoken to the Sensei, and I don't think I need to.  I think he realized he was over the top and corrected the situation with his students in his own way.  Jaime has moved on, demonstrated that he is much stronger and ready for anything!