Taekwondo

This is the younger kids' second Taekwondo class. They finally started last Saturday after more than a year of negotiations.  It took quite a bit of persuasion. My son is often apprehensive of classes and the idea of fighting with someone other than his sister. My daughter was quite keen to follow in her eldest brother's footstep. She performs her own TKD-like moves and this has been on the increase recently as she has been watching Power Rangers videos on Youtube.  Her only condition for attending TKD classes was if her Koh Koh goes with her. 

One morning as I was walking my second son to school, I told him about his sister's interest in TKD and her condition for attending classes. I explained to him that it was important for both of them to learn self-defence. He remained quite adamant. So I threw in the offer of an extra hour of ipad in the weekends, which left him defenceless. The deal was sealed and we agrees to start after Chinese New Year.

Not quite sure what got into my daughter but she also decided to start swimming classes as well. So last Saturday was an exciting weekend of firsts for her. She enjoyed her swimming lesson and made new friends. She was looking forward to a similarly enjoyable time at the TKD class in the evening. My son on the other hand was looking rather worried about the prospect of sparring with someone. Whilst his sister was running around and hopping on the exercise mats laid on the TKD hall, he stood there quietly. When the class started, the instructor came to introduce herself to the kids. Just at that point, my daugther became anxious and started to cry. You can never be certain with kids and I wasn't sure what to do. My quiet son came to the rescue. Holding her hands he said "Come on Mei, lets go". And that made all the difference. She followed him and everything else went smoothly. And they both enjoyed themselves.

Siblings have a way of influencing each other that sometimes parents can't. My eldest son's 10 year journey with TKD have rubbed off on his sister. Her enthusiasm got us to class, and his second brother gave her the confidence to stick to her decision.