Sunday was a great day to be a Sijeh. My seven-year-old social butterfly, who’d rather chat with me about friends and fashion, gave her most focused effort yet. I had to have her practice alone for a bit as I worked with the five year old who missed class last week, and I was stunned by what I saw out of the corner of my eye.
She did one repetition after another without prompting and even self-corrected after watching me with her classmate. I didn’t know she had it in her – the inclination to keep her mind and body on kung fu for more than three minutes at a time. I was so proud of her (and the classmate who finally earned his white sash) that I felt high for hours afterward. A second grader’s concentration made my favorite day of the week even better than it normally is. It’s still the little things, always and forever, that make the biggest difference.
Middle-Aged Martial Arts Mom 