After almost two full months of doing karate on the sidelines, Camille overcame her fear today and got back on the mat. She stayed there for the whole class, she tried everything — including the running kicks — and even sparred with Sensei.
It was the first time she got on the mat for more than a minute or two since the very first class. She was pretty intimidated that day, and when she missed a kick and people laughed — in the good-natured way they do when anyone has a mishap — that was all she wrote. She left the mat and wouldn’t return.
Week after week, she did most of the drills from the sidelines, and it became increasingly painful and frustrating for me to see her afraid to try.
Parents, of course, never just see what’s happening in the moment. They telegraph it into a lifetime of being afraid to try. A lifetime of sitting on the sidelines. It was a terrifying thought.
And nothing we did seemed to help. I kept telling myself that she’d get over it in her own time. But what if she didn’t?
Well, she did. And I was so proud of her. I told probably a couple hundred times tonight. Every now and then she’d ask me again. “Were you really happy, Mommy?”
“Oh yes, baby. So happy and proud.”
4 Comments
Tell Camille that Her Great Uncle 2nd degree”Ni Dan” is sooo proud that He will smile even in his sleep tonight.
10-4. That and the milkshake she got will make her very happy.
When I saw the title of the email I knew what had happened. I am sooo glad!! I would have loved to have seen her sparring with sensei. She’s a little fireball!!
This was a big hurdle for her. The fact that she did it on her own will help her do the same thing in the future. Yeah, Camille!!