Theme words - Enthusiasm

The yellow belt theme word is enthusiasm. The motivational poster on the wall defined it as "Sharing your excitement with others." Examples they gave were about actively participating in class, kihaping (yelling) loudly, and arriving 5 minutes early to class among others. The cynic in me leads me to think that the unspoken example is "tell your friends about how much you love taekwondo so they'll sign up with us." The best and final example they actually gave in class: "Do your best in everything you do." We try to teach this to our kids in almost every situation. We don't care how well they do, we just want them to give it their best effort.

My daughters have opposite personalities. My oldest is pretty reserved and quiet while my youngest shows no restraint in her emotions, both up and down. For the longest time in the classes, I would listen for my oldest daughter's kihap when she was kicking and I could tell that she wasn't even opening her mouth. Usually, she was in line right next to me as we were practicing. A simple "hand behind my ear, I can't hear you" would get her to at least say it. The instructors picked up on it and started calling out individual people to be the only ones kihaping. My daughter is actually pretty loud when she wants to be and everyone could hear her when it was her turn.

The best and final example they actually gave in class: "Do your best in everything you do." We try to teach this to our kids in almost every situation. We don't care how well they do, we just want them to try to do their best. While my daughter was a yellow belt, we ran into a situation where it was obvious she was just doing partial effort. I won't reveal details as they aren't important. As discipline though, I had her look up the definition of enthusiasm. I found one that matched the "doing your best" example and had her write it 25 times. I then had a discussion with her on what I was trying to teach her. Part of that discussion involved a warning to her that if I saw her giving partial efforts, I would talk to Master Lee about it. A very likely consequence is a demotion, even if it is in situations not directly involving taekwondo like school work or chores.

The immediate result was an increase in the level of "enthusiasm". It has carried forward to this day but every once in a while, I do have to remind both of my kids about doing their best. A gentle reminder about having a "black belt attitude" is enough to get the point across.