DJ started taking TaeKwonDo just before his 4th birthday last year. He started off enthusiastically. He’s has a lot of great experiences but he also struggled quite a bit. I would say looking back that DJ’s theme of his 4th year was railing against the rules. He wanted the world to go HIS way and following adult instruction was not in his game plan. I am so very grateful that he had the structure of his TKD class during this tough time. Master Joe, Teacher Ellie and Teacher Isaac were a welcome resource during DJ’s rocky months.

DJ began the year as the youngest in the class with little to no experience of classroom protocol. He learned to stand in line, sit quietly, raise his hand, take turns. He struggled with not being goofy, not twirling in line while hitting the kids nearest him, not talking whenever a thought crossed his mind, not running when told to walk.

At what seemed the lowest point of his year, the students had a belt test. The two oldest boys in the class moved up to the bigger kids class at the same time that a few new kids joined DJ’s class.  During that belt test, DJ was anything but engaged. He wouldn’t sit still, he wouldn’t face forward, his punches and kicks were a joke, and when his class did their forms, he just stood there.  I had a talk with him afterward explaining he was no longer the youngest kid and all the new kids were going to be looking to him to know how they should behave. It was as if the storm broke and the sun came out. From then on, DJ’s behavior turned a dramatic corner. He was still an impish 4yo boy but he was following the flow of the class and getting into the fun of kicking and punching.

This month DJ moved up to the Little Tigers for 5-7yo and Friday he had another belt test. The Little Dragons, his first class, go through a progression of white belts with colored stripes. DJ had worked his way up to white/purple and was anticipating moving up to white/brown, the highest white belt.

During this belt text, DJ was on point for every activity, nailing his kicks, his punches, loud kiyah’s, calling out “yes sir!” when expected. But I was never so impressed as I was to watch him sit on the sideline while other students tested. He sat, cross-legged, hands on knees, watching, absorbing, enjoying what he was seeing. So very very different than before. When he completed his test by breaking a board (into THREE pieces) with a step-sidekick, he received his new belt. He was stunned not to receive the expected white/brown belt but instead a yellow belt. On the way home, in the dark of the car, he said “I am so proud of myself.”  His dad and I looked at each other. Did he just say…?

Yes. Yes, he did.