Everybody Was Kung Foo Fighting!

We've been wanting to find some sort of sport for the boys to be involved with for some time. We tried football in the fall. We made it through two of the classes before throwing in the towel. The latest venture is martial arts. We have some friends whose children attend, and thought we'd give it a shot. The first class was a private lesson on a Friday. Within seconds of the class starting, the instructors had L and B eating out of their hands. I could not believe the transformation I saw in them. The above photo shows the joy the both showed during the class. We left that day with two very excited boys. The lessons in this class were things like eye contact, how to shake hands, how to bow, how to say yes sir and yes m'am to requests. I was impressed with the overall level of respect and kindness shown by everyone at the center. These are lessons we will all benefit from.

The second class was the very next Monday. For this class, the boys joined in with the Tiny Tigers group. Once again, they had a marvelous time running, hopping, doing jumping jacks and army crawls. And to top it all off, they each got to break a board with their bare hands! Once again, much excitement ensued after class. It was this level of excitement that prompted me to go ahead and pay for a year up front (doing so saves a considerable amount of money in the long run). This will also ensure that I am committed to taking them three days a week, which works out perfectly because we can go in the afternoons after school.

Well, as with everything, there is a yin and a yang. If our first two visits were full on yin, the yang came out in full force during our first official paid visit (go figure). L and B wanted nothing to do with the class. They cried. They wanted to sit on the sidelines. They acted like it was the worst thing they have ever done. Surely, these were not the same children who had beamed with pride on Monday. I was embarrassed. I wanted to scream out loud, "Seriously, this is paid for and not doing it is no longer an option!" I tried to leave to see if that would help. This resulted in loud shrieks from them both. Luckily, one of the instructors was able to get them to participate with him off to the side. However, as soon as they did not have his undivided attention, they scattered right back to me.

So, we will go back for the next class and try again. Lucky for me and my infinite wisdom, we have a year of prepaid classes to figure it out.