TKD has some rather flashy kicks, many of them to the head, and punches that are are stylized. As for the TKD forms, those poomsae (basically equivalent to kata in Karate) have a lot of meaning and significance (before I left traditional martial arts and got involved in reality-based self-defense and Krav Maga, I used to be in Shotokan Karate at ni-dan level - 2nd degree black belt), but unfortunately most people only learn the forms and not the reason behind those forms. For instance, at first dan in Karate (sho-dan, or the first black belt ...which is where you really start to learn about the art) you go through something called Kata Bunkai ...where you are shown the reason behind the kata movements. However, most dojos (karate) and dojangs (TKD) are what is known as 'McDojos' where you see kids at age 15 with black belts. They basically sell belts.
However, the biggest problem with TKD is that it is a sparring martial art ...they are a lot of competitions that use the point-sparring system (it is even in the olympics), which is extremely different from a reality-based self-defense system like Krav Maga, Kapap and Haganah (all 3 of which are taught to the Israeli armed forces). If you look at TKD and compare it with Kapap or Krav Maga, the TKD will look far more pretty. However the krav maga moves will be far more brutal. Finally, a lock of the blocks taught in TKD simply do not work ...they came from Karate (the founders of TKD were all Koreans who had learned Karate, primarily Shotokan, during the Japanese occupation of WW2 ...virtually all indigenous Korean martial arts were exterminated by the Japanese, and TKD was formed after the war when the Koreans who had started various martial arts schools decided to combine them into TKD ....some TKD forms, especially ITF, are actually almost identical to Shotokan Karate forms ...only with a focus on kicks). Those blocks were made to be used when the wearer has armor (e.g. a Samurai who has had his main weapon ...maybe his sword -katana, yari-spear, or naginata-halberd taken away from him), and thus the blocks would have worked. However, give a 9 year old girl a permanent marker, and tell her to come towards you and try to 'cut' you. She will be flailing, and it will be impossible to block if you use those karate/TKD style blocks. Furthermore, in a real knife 'fight' (knife fights only happen in movies ....in real life it is knife cutting) you will not even see the knife until you have been stabbed several times by the guy who 'only wanted to talk to you.'
Anyways, I am proud of what your daughter did. However I think it was more of a function of her being a natural fighter, keeping her senses when many people would lose theirs, and acting rather than freezing. Amazing girl. However, maybe she should look into some of the more reality-based self-defense programs (e.g. Krav Maga), which would be great supplements to having a gun.
We saw a few of those in looking, passed. A sure sign is hard-sell tactics with hidden fees and, yes, little kids with black belts. We got lucky and found an older Korean gentleman in a low-rent strip mall who taught because he wanted to, in an environment that can best be described as a big family. There wasn't one trophy in the place since he didn't teach for competition, and he didn't even have his own extensive trophies (apparently at one time he was a Korean Army TKD champion). He taught for discipline, fitness and self defense. He'd even break out the rubber knife quite often for specific defense techniques.
I know most people aren't likely to get that lucky. My wife just saw the tiny place driving by one day and walked in. He didn't advertise.
What would be a good self defense form for an 8 year old girl?