Pegged?

Our dojang has some classes for very small children--ages 4 and 5. They're called "mini ninjas."

Master Hughes was the first TKD instructor to have classes for this age--he got a national award for it. He's excellent with those tiny kids: enthusiastic, patient, and encouraging. Kids at that age don't have good attention spans, and some of the ones he gets in that class are obviously headed for an ADHD diagnosis. But he gets them to learn to concentrate.

Recently, the mini ninjas have been working out with the all-belts classes. It just worked out best for Master Hughes's schedule. They start off stretching with us, then get some individualized instruction. . . . from black belts.

At first, I thought "oh no, I'm going to be asked to help teach them." Being a mom and a teacher, I figured he'd have me pegged as a good instructor for those little ones.

But at first, Master Hughes enlisted some of the younger teens: James, John, Dillon, and Stephanie.

Apparently the kids liked working with "teenagers"--they thought it was cool.

But the past two classes, I've been asked to help with the mini ninjas.

OK, I am fine with little kids. And I'm used to hyper boys, having one myself. And I know about teaching and learning. I actually enjoyed it, and felt like they learned something--my goal Monday was to get the kids to stop and look at the kicking pad before they kicked, and they were doing it. They are awfully cute.

Still, I don't want to be pegged as "the mom" whose job it is to work with and/or babysit little ones. I'd like to work with other people--the other new women in the dojang, for instance--and I want to learn my new form!