Not Ready Yet

During the past few weeks Robby's taekwondo classes have taken the back seat to our summer adventures. When we have been home he has attended class, but his participation has been sporadic at best. Sticking to a class schedule during the Summer of Awesome just felt counter intuitive to our relaxed c'est la vie mentality. When I received the email announcing a belt test this week, I worried that we might run into an issue. With all of the missed classes, I doubted that Robby would be adequately prepared for his exam.

Yesterday, on the way to class, I told Robby about the belt testing email. Without prompting, he agreed that he wasn't ready to test and asked if he could skip testing. I was thrilled that I didn't need to prod him into realizing that he wasn't ready. I worried that he might want to test just because everybody else was going to participate.

I wasn't sure of the protocol around skipping a belt best so I encouraged him to speak with his instructors before making a final decision. After class Robby approached his instructor (I could tell that he was nervous) and politely explained that he wasn't ready to test. At first the instructor tried to encourage him to take the test anyway, but Robby explained that he doesn't know his form and that his testing performance would not reflect his best efforts. (I had to smile because my budding debater used the school philosophy to support his position.)

After laying out his case, the instructor agreed that Robby should wait to test. I'm proud of him for coming to the realization on his own and for taking the initiative to explain his rationale to the instructor. He could have taken the test and flubbed his way through it, but the belt would have been awarded based upon time instead of skill and merit. Robby wasn't looking for the easy way and advocated for himself beautifully.