Sweep the Leg

Dash has been in Tae Kwon Do for about a year now (well, I guess at first he was in tumbling, but at the same studio and with the same focus on discipline and respect) and, dudes, he just passed his first belt test! Check it:

This was the final step in the test:

Breaking wood. With his bare hands.


I think even Master Shin was a little surprised that he did it on his first try. I know Dash was.


Here he is at the ceremony to receive his yellow belt.


"I am cute but I can kick your ass."


Here they are bowing to their previous belts. I am really in love with how huge a role respect plays at the studio.


Graduates with Master Shin.

At first I wasn't 100% on board with starting Dash in Martial Arts at such a young age. I worried that he'd spend his days trying to kick me & Josh & the kittens to death. I had visions of "HI-YA"s at all hours of the day and night. But you know, I couldn't have been more wrong. Tae Kwon Do has been mostly about defending yourself (a lot of time is spent on how to get away from bullies and/or adults who try to hurt you, and how to tell the difference between a bully and an asshole) and discipline and respect.

For an anxious child like Dash, who frequently panics when I move more than five feet away from him at the grocery store, it's been a God-send. All we have to do now, when he's scared to be alone in him room at night, is remind him that he knows Tae Kwon Do. That he broke wood with his bare hands.

And all I have to do, when I panic if he wants to ride his scooter in front of the house for a few minutes unsupervised (what? you think anxiety isn't hereditary?), is remind myself that he knows what to do if someone tries to snatch him up (break their fucking nose and run and scream like hell, fyi).

That right there is worth the price of admission alone.