TaeKwonDONE!

We went into Taekwondo a little blind.  All I know is that people have been nagging me about it for years.  How taekwondo can do a child good for focus, discipline, self-confidence, yadda-yadda...
That, and kids in karate gear look so darn cute!

Image nabbed from the net

So finally, we went to this taekwondo studio for a summer's free trial class.  I didn't know what to expect, honestly.  But I did witness and realize a lot of unexpected things.

1.  No cute uniforms. :(  They're not required for beginners.  Some of the kids even wore shorts.

2.  There's a lot of shouting.  That's a given, I guess.  And thank God, Kenji took it well.

3.  There were 'putting kids on the spot' moments.  This, I'm pretty sure, shouldn't have happened.  It was the first day and kids should never feel embarrassed on their first days of anything.  Not if adults can help it. 

4.  A little boy cried out of fear and shock and was still made to do the moves along with the other kids.  I guess this should do his confidence a lot of good in the long run.  But his first day was miserable, that's for sure.  He was punching in between sobs and tears.

5.  Shoes weren't allowed.  And yet the floor wasn't exactly pristine.  No wonder the coach wore shoes.  Hmm...

6.  There was at some point some physical yanking and tugging for attention.  Kids are unruly.  That's normal.  You can't expect them to fall in line just because you said so.  It wasn't physical abuse or anything like that.  In fact, maybe it shouldn't have surprised me since taekwondo IS a contact activity.  Maybe.

7.  The session started out with introductions.  And yet the coach referred to each kid as 'Psst!'.  This has nothing to do with taekwondo.  I'll stop there.

I know an hour and a half is too short to make any judgment.  After all, Kenji did ok.  Kenji's a rock.  He doesn't give a rat's piss even when made fun of.  His confidence is off the roof --so there!
And the coach did manage to get him to focus for a great number of seconds on a punching exercise so I AM sliiiightly impressed.
I believe taekwondo CAN do him good after all.  Eventually. 

But for now... we're moving to Swim Camp. :)