Ashton passed his testing for Tae Kwon do to move up to the green belt. To advance to the next belt they have to preform a series of moves (called form) and then break a board with their specified kick for that belt. Ashton is very good at his kicks. His Instructor is always complimenting how good and powerful his kicks are, but he has trouble memorizing the form. This particular form was 18 steps long and he was really struggling memorizing them. After practicing several times he finally got it down.
When he arrived at the studio to test everyone was going over their individual forms. The Master was calling out the numbers and the students were doing their moves. Since Ashton was the only student testing for a green belt there he got confused when everyone else was doing something different. He ran off the floor crying. He thought that he was failing the actual test, even though they were only practicing.
It was the one of the saddest things I have witnessed as a mom. I know that might sound silly, because it seems like something so little. But, as a mom I want to protect my kid from any type of hard-ache or dissapointment, but I can't, nor should I. I know success in life does not come without any hard ache or setback. So, we had a talk with him about how we knew he could do it and how he had practiced and was ready for this. It took him a few minutes to calm down and be reassured that he was in fact ready to test.
When it was his turn he executed each step in his form perfectly and broke the board with his spinning back side kick. I was so proud! I felt like I was going to have a panic attack sitting there waiting for him to test knowing he was so nervous. And now here he is- our cute little Green Belt. I think Tae Kwon Do is perfect for Ashton.
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