Don't Panic!

Well I thought I should report on how well Karate is going. It is going very well for Taylor. After Ryan's first class, most of which was spent in tears, we decided to wait a while before we put him in. Taylor however is thriving. He is so attentive and I can see how hard he is trying. Taylor's effort in things has been an issue for us in the past, but so far I have only seen 100 percent coming from him. Sometimes it pays to wait until their older to put them into things like this. It really isn't straight karate, it is a mixture of Tae Kwon Doe, Karate, Kickboxing and other Martial Arts. Last night, they were working on self defense strategies. Taylor did well. At first, you could tell he was a little reluctant to hit his teacher very hard, but each time he got better. I was so proud of him for not panicking when the teacher put him in a choke hold. The kids were instructed that the first thing to do in that situation is to make sure you can breathe by tucking your chin down in between the attackers forearm and your chest. At that point you can elbow punch them right in the chest. Another move involved evasive measures for when someone grabs you by the wrist. The kids were told to simply turn their palms over, like waiting for a "high five" and then to do a jump front kick to the attackers chest. Moving the hand puts the attacker off balance so when the kick comes it will push him back and break their grip, so you can get away. I loved that these moves were not heroic. They were simply about getting away as fast as possible and not panicking in the moment. Good things for all of us to remember. I am really happy about putting Jenna in this class when she gets home.
Some of the kids were so little that they could only kick their instructor with their tip toe. He made it all a game, but he was serious too. A couple of kids he just picked up and took off with. It was shocking to see how fast that could happen. Of course I really wanted to dare Sensei to try and pick Taylor up and take off with him! (Taylor weighs 96lbs) My husband and I have already let him know that if he ever falls asleep somewhere other than his bed, that is where he will find himself when he wakes up, because we are not going to try to move him.