Leading

 

Leading as an example. One of the things that became important to me as my training continued, was for my kids to see me accomplish something amazing. Not for my ego, but so they could see that with hard work anything is possible. It didn’t start that way though. I joined Kung Fu for self defence, and that grew into a way of life for my kids and I.

I was a single mom, working full time and training for my black belt. I leaned heavily on my parents for child care when I was at class, and more so during my grading year. My parents questioned why I was grading for my black belt as they felt I wasn’t spending enough time with my children, but I stressed how important it was to me that my kids saw me succeed so that they could have confidence in themselves.

It took a little bit of time, but my parents did see the benefits to my kids from my training. My dad hasn’t specified what exactly he sees, but he still brings it up from time to time. And that makes me feel good, because I know how he felt especially during my grading year.

Kung Fu is a way of life, and it permeates mine entirely. Our family is kind, compassionate and giving. We care about our environment, and our community. We are sensitive to our impact on those around us as well as our planet. I don’t know that my kids could physically defend themselves anymore as they haven’t trained in 4 1/2 years, but I am pretty confident that they are smart enough to stay away from potentially bad situations. And that’s a win in my books.