I've started taking tae kwon do with my kids the last few months. Yesterday was the belt test. They let me skip from no belt past white belt, so I tested for gold belt right along with Son the Younger. Even though testing is about much more than just breaking a board, you can't help but see it as a major milestone. StY is not quite big enough yet to break a board yet, but he gave it a good try. Son the Elder was testing for red belt, at a much more advanced level. It's actually quite impressive what he can do at a mere eight years of age. He wasn't quite able to break the board, but it cracked pretty audibly.

They give the grown-ups wider and thicker boards than the kids, but I still gave a nice strong stepping side kick and broke it on my first try. It was much more satisfying than I expected it to be.

DH isn't doing tae kwon do, but I had bought a large blue Hubbard squash that I was having difficulty cutting up. He grabbed the big cleaver and hacked away at it, yelling and everything, and now there are bits of squash all over the kitchen. Good thing it's his job to sweep the kitchen floor.