Karate Kid Woes

Collin has been doing great in his Tang Soo Do class. He is learning so much and has really been good about practicing. He keeps saying that he wants to move up to the next belt color. He was 'promoted' last week to  be able to stop taking private lessons and begin practicing with the class. He is super excited. But with all this new wisdom comes a few challenges as well.

Yesterday in class, he got frustrated while they were doing a difficult kick. They have to turn around 180 degrees and kick behind them then turn the other 180 degrees to complete the circle and end up facing the same way they started. That's a lot to remember. Collin kept getting confused about which way he was supposed to turn. He looked over at me and had tears all down his face. It was so sad. He came over to where we were sitting and I started to take him to the restroom to wash his face, but the instructor called him back on to the mat. Apparently he is not supposed to leave the mat without asking permission first. The instructor made him continue through the tears and switched to an easier kick that Collin can do well. He felt better after that.

We went back to class today because I was thinking he needs to jump back on that horse since he had a hard time yesterday. Well guess what? He had a hard time again today. They sometimes use Korean instructions and today they were counting in Korean. Collin has no clue how to do that, but neither do a lot of the other kids. I guess he thought he was the only one that didn't know what he was saying. This time he remembered to raise his hand to ask the instructor for help, but he started crying in the middle of his question. Poor kid. He just wants to do everything perfectly and he gets upset when he can't. He is the youngest kid in the class and also the newest so the knowledge gap is so pronounced. He will get there. Soon he won't be the youngest or the newest kid and he will be helping them just like the older ones are helping him now.

We came home tonight and watched a video to learn how to count in Korean. We practiced up to 5 and maybe we can learn up to 10 tomorrow. Why don't you give it a shot? It's not all that easy.

Here is the form that Collin had to learn before he was allowed to join the class. We practiced this so many times I feel like I'm ready for my own belt test!