I was initially quite resistant to getting Owen into martial arts. I'm not sure what my objections were, exactly...they still seem kind of vague and more or less boiled down to "don't you want to do soccer like all the other kids?" I didn't feel like teaching my kids to be aggressive and/or effective fighters was really a good idea. I tried hard to steer him toward a tumbling and movement class in Canaan - but he reeeeally wanted karate. I actually couldn't find a karate studio anywhere near us, but Owen accepted Tae Kwon Do as a fair substitute after observing a class. Unfortunately, he continues to insist on calling it Karate, much to the owner of the studio's chagrin. Apparently, Tae Kwon Do and Karate are NOT the same thing. Don't mess it up. Owen has learned to (begrudgingly) call it "kowndo" in the presence of Master Brown, but at home, he's quite clear that he's learning Karate. Whatever.
Anyway, now that we're a few weeks in, my ambivalence about tae kwon do has largely evaporated. First of all, there's the cute factor:
The cuteness! It kills me. but I suspect you could dress up my kids in just about any outfit/sporting costume and I'd think they're adorable. What I really like about it, and what has surprised me, is the high expectations they have of a kid Owen's size, without being draconian or punitive or otherwise age-inappropriate. What's interesting about this studio is that - unlike what I had imagined - he does NOT take class with a bunch of other similarly adorable 4 year olds. At this studio (and I'm not sure if this is because of the philosophy of tae kwon do and they do this everywhere, or the rural area we live in - there probably aren't enough people here to have classes separated by age) everyone takes class together. EVERYONE. Here was the class yesterday:
yep. That's 5 black belts, (you can't see two of them) and advanced red belt (she's not wearing her belt for some reason) a purple belt, two yellow belts (there's one behind one of the kids in front you can't see - actually, it's the son of the yellow belt adult you CAN see, sitting next to Owen. It's a dad and his 12ish year old son doing it together and I think they're awesome. They're clearly using this as a way to "bond" - and it's working) and Owen. So you, like I, might think that they are amused by Owen, think he's cute, and largely ignore him while the rest of them actually learn martial arts and work on their skills. You'd be wrong. Every last one of the advanced belts and the instructor (Mr. Brown) take Owen as seriously as a member of the class as the black belts that are flipping and chopping and doing their tricks. If Owen is fooling around and not paying attention, everyone stands stock still while they wait for him to get it together. They expect him to participate, follow along, do what he can do, wait patiently while they're not specifically teaching him something or doing something he can do, and just generally treat him like every other member of the class. I have to say, I'm impressed. I thought after the first class he would find it boring, and be unable to live up to the expectations, but I was wrong. He's doing really well, and asks to go every day. The older kids who have achieved higher belts are remarkably polite, self posessed, and extremely patient, thoughtful and helpful in instructing the lower belts. Everything in the class is based on the level you've achieved, not age, so there might be a 13 year old green belt helping an adult orange belt, or a 19 year old black belt spending an entire class teaching a 4 year old white belt a single kick. Observing this, I was thinking to myself - is that 16 year old advanced belt going to be angry when they realize the class is over and they've spent the entire thing showing someone who has just started the same thing over and over? Don't they want to be practicing their advanced tricks? Then I started reading through the studio materials and realized that in fact, the point of being an advanced belt is participating in the leadership program and helping the less advanced belts learn. That was enough for me to buy into it, especially if Owen really wants to do it. We just need to work on him yelling "Ki-ya!" instead of "Hi-ya!" Apparently, "Hi-ya" is Karate. And Tae Kwon do and Karate are NOT the same thing.
