A slightly sucky story of bad kid behavior from when I went to black belt testing at my Tae Kwon Do school last night.
It's a good school. The parents are nice people. I've genuinely liked everyone I've met there.
But some of the kids got a little out of hand during the testing.
Black belt testing is a big deal. They only do it 3 times a year. Other students are encouraged to attend and cheer on their classmates, which I did this time. I also wanted to get an idea of what my black belt testing will be like in a couple of years.
Some of the parents brought their junior belt kids for that very reason. But the test is long (we were there nearly 3 hours) and after about an hour the younger kids really start getting restless. It didn't help that the school gym that was contracted for testing (our regular school is too small for the candidates and the families) had the most uncomfortable bleachers it's ever been my displeasure to sit in.
One of the parents brought noise makers for the kids to use during the self defense testing and sparring testing. Problem is they a) gave them to the kids (who were about 4-6 years old generally) way too early, and b) those tests were mixed in with forms testing where you have to be quiet. The testing was done in waves (youngest kids, older kids, adult women, adult men), so you'd have forms-self defense-sparring repeating in waves.
The parents kept trying to keep the kids from using the noise makers during forms testing. Needless to say, they were not successful.
It was a battle that was lost before it even began. Once you give a kid a noise maker, nothing short of taking it away is going to make him stop using it.
I finally had to move away from where I was sitting because of it, even though I ended up with a less advantageous view.
It's a good school. The parents are nice people. I've genuinely liked everyone I've met there.
But some of the kids got a little out of hand during the testing.
Black belt testing is a big deal. They only do it 3 times a year. Other students are encouraged to attend and cheer on their classmates, which I did this time. I also wanted to get an idea of what my black belt testing will be like in a couple of years.
Some of the parents brought their junior belt kids for that very reason. But the test is long (we were there nearly 3 hours) and after about an hour the younger kids really start getting restless. It didn't help that the school gym that was contracted for testing (our regular school is too small for the candidates and the families) had the most uncomfortable bleachers it's ever been my displeasure to sit in.
One of the parents brought noise makers for the kids to use during the self defense testing and sparring testing. Problem is they a) gave them to the kids (who were about 4-6 years old generally) way too early, and b) those tests were mixed in with forms testing where you have to be quiet. The testing was done in waves (youngest kids, older kids, adult women, adult men), so you'd have forms-self defense-sparring repeating in waves.
The parents kept trying to keep the kids from using the noise makers during forms testing. Needless to say, they were not successful.
It was a battle that was lost before it even began. Once you give a kid a noise maker, nothing short of taking it away is going to make him stop using it.
I finally had to move away from where I was sitting because of it, even though I ended up with a less advantageous view.
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