Dear Parent, Stress and anxiety in our own lives is something that we “put up with”, but when it comes to our kids we don’t want them to unnecessarily be anxious or stressed out. However, stress and anxiety are a part of life and we can’t completely inoculate them from these realities. What we can […]
Guest Post By Master Melody Shuman When I started martial arts in 1987 as an 11-year old, things were very different. Kids and adults trained side-by-side, and everyone tested on the same material for their belt regardless of age. Needless to say, kids usually didn’t make it very far before dropping out because the training […]
Last night we were working on a takedown series as well as a punch-defense series that we routinely practice in our traditional martial arts program. The purpose of practicing these series is multifaceted: developing reliable skill, preparing for contingencies, playing your strengths and addressing your weaknesses. During the session, I showed the students how they […]
As parents, we do our best to have the appropriate amount of control on the content and sources that our children have access to. When they are very young it is 100% in our control but as they grow and get more exposure to peers, teachers and third party information sources that control will diminish, […]
I started teaching martial arts to children almost 25 years ago. The parallels between the evolution of martial arts teaching styles and parenting styles is interesting. I see martial arts instructors teaching the same way today as 25 years ago. I see some parents raising their kids in a similar way that they were […]
One of the biggest concerns from parents during the school year is bullying. Some 160,000 kids skip school every day because they fear of being attacked or ridiculed by bullies. The good news is that these disturbing statistics can be limited with the proper education. As an educator that has worked with hundreds of children on anti-bullying […]
I typically break my goals into three categories: 1. Things that I want to accomplish with my health and fitness (remember they are not the same thing) 2. Things that I want to do with / for my family 3. Goals for my business / professional life Of course, there maybe some overlap between the […]
As seasoned children’s martial arts instructors, we have witnessed just about every sort of behavior and outburst from working with hundreds of martial arts students over the years. We have seen it all from playful name calling to angry tantrums. Some things are difficult to not take personally, but our experience allows us to put […]
Inspiration is an interesting thing. I think most of us consider it as something that happens to us, rather than something that we seek, or even create. We’ve all had those sort of aha moments where we saw something, read something, heard something or were told something that really inspired us. Those external stimuli […]
Part of the Children’s Martial Arts Tradition is to help them to improve physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially through martial arts classes. And, we hope that these lessons and improvements stick both in and out of the martial arts studio. However, with technology our ability to observe and watch over our children is greater than […]
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