There are a couple other sibling pairs in the Friday afternoon sparring class at the taekwondo dojang, so DJ and Indigo are not unique.  A great rule we heard one of the parents create one day is the rule saying their kids cannot spar each other.  Their logic was it would prevent issues at home.  I should mention that these are boys, I think they are maybe 8 and 7, and you can tell they already fight without an excuse.  Indigo was allowed to attend sparring right after she was became an orange belt, and her only reason for wanting to attend was to spar her sister.  In an attempt to prevent issues, we decided to adopt the same rule.

The nice thing about the Friday sparring class is the fact both kids are in class at the same time.  This gives Garbanzo and I the opportunity to walk to the store or get coffee together.  No kids to entertain definitely gives us some 1×1 time where we can talk without a kid begging to play with his iPhone.

We also discovered it gives the instructors the opportunity to pair our kids up against each other….because we aren’t there to stop them.

At first I wasn’t sure if I was pissed off about it, but then after watching them I realized why he put them together.  DJ is a good example for Indigo on what to do.  And, when Indigo gets “punch” happy, DJ stops her and makes her start kicking.  In other words, DJ is a good influence – and an influence that Indigo will listen to.

This was probably Indigo’s best sparring of the night because she was focused and determined to kick her sister.    I guess the rule is suspended until we see cause to reinstitute it.  The Master of the school is pretty good about gauging kids and who should (or should not) be sparring each other.

I have decided we need to find Indigo a smaller mouth guard because if she were to get kicked in the mouth, hers will not protect.

And, this is Indigo before the match.  I am still unclear how this injury happened, but I suspect she will have a nice black eye tomorrow.