She's Got the Moves Like....Bruce Lee

Having two children with completely different personalities, has encouraged me to help each of my kids find their "niche". My eldest excels in many different areas, while my youngest, has floundered in an attempt to find her passion.  We have tried soccer, but that ended up being more of a social outlet, and a fairweather activity, because if the weather wasn't fair, she didn't want any part of it. We have tried ballet and tap, because what girl doesn't love dance? Unfortunately, neither dance class clicked, because there was too much technique involved.  She is more of a "freeform" dancer. Therefore, we placed her in hip hop.  So far, that has been the best fit, and she does have fun, but I can't help feeling like she does dance, because that is what she thinks she should be doing, not necessarily because she loves it.  

Tonight, that may have changed.  On several occasions she has expressed an interest in martial arts. I have dragged my feet, only because it is just one more place for me, the chauffeur, to run, but I saw that a local martial arts school, was having free classes for the month of January in Judo for children ages 7-12. Let me say right here, that I had no idea, until tonight, how Judo might be different from Karate, Tae Kwon Do, or Jujitsu. Tonight I had a small sampling.  There is a lot of contact. A lot. My radar should have gone into high alert, when the first activity was to teach the children how to fall appropriately. That is NEVER a good sign.

Let me set the scene for you now. It is my little peanut, a 9 year old boy, a 10 year old boy, and a 12 year old boy (quite possibly twice her height). All of them had on the typical Gi uniform, so they have been doing this for awhile, or at least long enough to get the outfit.  And in walks my kid, skinny as a toothpick, wearing purple leggings, with her unruly hair barely contained in braids. She cautiously approached the mat and watched.  The teacher invited her to join, and she seemed a bit shy, but every time he showed her something, he would ask if she would like to try it, and that was always followed by an enthusiastic nod. After teaching proper falling techniques, which she struggled with a bit, the next part of class was teaching how to grab your opponent and flip or throw them to the ground. Excuse me?  I had no idea what to do. The maternal part of me wanted to yank her right off the mat and protect her little body, but I sat, and laughed nervously...repeatedly. The teacher paired the children together based on height, and her little partner was just a sweetheart, very patient with her as she learned new moves. Every time she dropped him to the mat, she got a giant grin on her face.  The last part of the class, for lack of a better description was sparring at three minute intervals and each child rotated to a different partner every after each interval. There was some serious battling going on at this point between each set of kids and the two male teachers even rotated through the mix. I was extremely apprehensive when she was paired with the 12 year old boy, one of the moves she learned was to put her opponent in a headlock, and she couldn't even reach his neck. Gracious boy that he was, he bent down so she could reach him. I was impressed with his kindness.  Truly. My husband and I talked to the other parents waiting on the bench, and they were impressed by my kid's enthusiasm and her fearlessness. Two qualities about her that can be very exhausting from a parental perspective. But she was definitely giving it her all, and it didn't matter that she was the only girl.  A new interval began, with a new partner, and all of us see her put more distance between her and her partner than she normally should have. She runs toward him, full speed, drops to the ground and does a fast somersault, pops up to her feet, grabs him in a headlock,sweeps his leg, and drops him to the floor. What the??? First reaction from the parents on the bench was a series of mouths dropping open, then laughter, and then a dad next to me says, "Wow!  I wish I had that on video!  That was great!" I am not sure she could replicate that again if she tried, but it looked pretty amazing. 

I am of two minds regarding Judo.  The partially insane part of my mind, knows that she had a blast, and it really seemed to motivate and excite her.  Not to mention, I kind of like the idea of my kid knowing how to flip a guy over her shoulder and kick his butt, especially once she hits the dating years. The more rational and protective part of my mind, screams that this is too dangerous.  She could get really hurt. I am not sure what we will decide, we may let her stick with martial arts, but go for a tamer version after the free sessions of Judo are over, though my husband thinks she would benefit from the aspect of learning to control her own body in Judo.  However, it was very fun to see her participate in an activity that made her face light up. Even leaving the class slightly injured, her foot was hurting, she was still begging to try out the moves once we got home.