Tae Kwon Do...

I will have to mention my Tae Kwon Do classes. I finally joined. My son was really amused to see me in the white uniform. And the first time I was asked to 'ki hap' or yell I did so very softly. It reminded me of the scene in 'Lakshya' where Hrithik Roshan had to scream 'dhaava' during a military training exercise. While he was punished for hesitating to scream - my teacher just smiled and told me - "this is the only place you can scream as much as you want - so let it out". It took me a few days... and now I scream pretty well :)

Tae Kwon Do was so difficult the first day - she made us do push ups during warm up exercises. I couldn't do a single one. But I tried my best...and later when I reached home my arms ached so badly - I didn't want to pick anything up all evening. My family had a good time laughing at me.

Then came the different kicks - I never knew it required so much balance. We are 3 moms in the class - with all our kids already at a higher belt level. All of us were falling over, and sweating in the first 15 minutes :) And its a great support group - we all encourage each other to keep going. Imagine being the only adult learning with a bunch of kids!

My husband and son had to test for orange belt - the 3rd level. For that they had to break a board with a front snap kick. It was easy for the father, but not for the son. He tried, and was nearly in tears when he couldn't. Another kid cried too - and he was a year older. Our instructor gave them the weekend to think it over, and come back to try again. She kept stating - it was not strength but technique which was required. When they both came back Monday determined to do their best it was amazing to see them both break their boards. We captured it on tape...and we watch it again and again. It is wonderful to watch the boost in confidence which the kids gain, and it makes me wish that I had these activities as a kid too. Maybe I would have turned out more confident and just maybe would have reacted differently to certain circumstances in my past. Oh well...just a thought.