Parents love the life skills that are built and reinforced by our martial arts classes. Few life skills are more valuable than Discipline. But how do you explain discipline and teach it to children in way they will both understand and enjoy?
We start with a clear definition. In our classes we say “Discipline is doing things the first time you are asked”. If a parent asks a child to do a thing, they should do it the first time. Most the kids can relate thru personal experiences that if they put their shoes away first time their asked that makes moms and dads happy.
However just because it makes Mom & Dad happy isn’t always reason enough. So we go on to explain that having discipline = more fun!
Most every child has gone on a trip at some point, camping, amusement parks, or even a new city or town. And on that trip they will gladly recount how much fun it was.
What they often fail to see is that on that trip or vacation, they had to stay closer to parents and be better listeners than they would in their common day to day. They showed better discipline and as a result had the time of their lives! “You see when you listen better moms and dads, teacher, and karate instructors we have more confidence that you will be safe and because your a listening and following directions better -showing more discipline- we are excited to share in the fun and do more fun stuff!“
We also talk about self-discipline “doing things without being asked“. Most the kids all have some activity they perform daily that demonstrates self-discipline, brushing their teeth, making their bed, or getting ready for school.
Self discipline as we say, is like having a Black Belt in discipline, and we believe every Childs parent is a Black Belt in discipline as is proven by they fact they exist, are fed, clothed and are in our martial arts program/class!
We dont expect nor demand Self Discipline in all areas out of every child, in fact part of being a child is you are exploring the world around you and learning new things. What we do expect is that the kids do their best to show follow directions and show Discipline in every class, at home and at school. When the kids identify a task they must complete regularly that we encourage them to become self-disciplined to do it without being asked so they can do even more fun stuff!
They say that Discipline is a building block of all success, it is absolutely a key ingredient in every student who achieves Black Belt! If you think your child could benefit from the Discipline that training in the martial arts builds try us out at www.neweratn.com.
