A Message for Parents from a Martial Art Teacher!

A Message for Parents from a Martial Art Teacher!

Imagine a room filled with highly motivated, excited and energetic students, learning skills that will change their lives forever.  This vision is the exact one you see when enrolling a child in a martial arts class.  Martial Arts activities are not only fun and exciting, but filled with lessons that will change a student’s life forever.  Lessons in hand eye coordination, focus and variety of kicking, punching, grappling, falling and high-energy exercise drills are only the bi products of what is taught.  The lessons in the martial arts are endless.  However they are so much deeper then most parents and students even realize.  I have been doing martial arts for 48 years.  Coming from some one who has lived it on a daily basis and having watched my students for over 30 plus years I have a clear perspective. Many have started off as children and are now adults  and some have their own children in my school, I can tell you the martial arts is one of the best things you can ever do, bar none. 

I want you to view the martial arts not only as a fun activity or sport, but more as a necessary life-skill and way of life.  I call my martial art school the “Life Skill Institute.”   After the excitement and newness of the class has subsided and the realization takes place, there is nothing left but hard work.  To progress it is inevitable that at some point a student will lose  some motivation.  This happens to every champion, no matter whether it is baseball, hockey, soccer or martial arts at some point.  As long as they are in it for the long-term. Parents sometimes see motivation as a form of love or excitement for a desired activity.   However all student’s motivation has peaks and valleys and sometimes even plateaus.   DON’T WORRY!  This is all part of the program and it is a temporary condition for those who stick with their training.  This is crucial point for the student and if they don’t allow the Sensei to help them through it, it will not teach them the important life lesson about the importance of commitment and "sticktoitiveness."

If the time comes when you or your child wants to QUIT, the age old saying may be “chose your battles wisely.”  After all, why make them do something they don’t want to do, right? WRONG!!! We make our children do things they don’t want to do every day because, as parents, we know what is best for them.  We make them go to school, take swim lessons, go to the dentist, etc.  Why?, Because it is for their health, long-term education and well-being. Basically it sets them up for success for the rest of their lives. 

This is one of the best fought battles you should ever fight. In all my years of experience, I have never had a child complain to me or their parents that they were mad for making them earn a black belt. I have, on the other hand, heard kids come back to me years later and wish their parents had acted in their best interest and made them stick with it.  This has happened hundreds of times in conversation with students after they have grown.    

Remember a student dedicated to training in the martial arts increases their chances of success drastically and will give them the confidence, focus and strength to succeed in all areas of their lives. That is only the mental benefit because in our society it is essential to also give them the tools they need to have a level of comfort, knowing that should a bully attack them, they are better prepared. It could potentially save their life. 

I have heard this hundreds of times and parents have said that they don’t want to argue with their child about coming to class and that they have to pick their battles, but isn’t a lifetime of success, confidence and safety worth standing your ground and going to battle for? The answer is a resounding YES SIR!  Now apply this to anything you do or your child does.