Srategies for parents

A good article and a few tips for parents!

Studies show that some children spend more than six hours a day using media, from watching television and listening to music to surfing the internet and playing video games. Considering that they spend a good chunk of time at school, and another eight hours or so sleeping, six hours of passive media time is a lot of time spent not moving and being passive. Here are two strategies to help if you are struggling to motivate your child to go to their Taekwondo classes:

Strategy #1: Make sure your child is doing something less interesting to him or her a half hour prior to going to their Taekwondo class. For instance, a child doing homework or chores will usually jump at the chance to take a break and go to class. On the other hand, a child playing video games may not want to stop shooting aliens or driving their favorite sportcar to go to class... If your child is outside playing with friends, is it any surprise that they don’t want to stop to go to class?

Strategy #2: Help your child set short-term goals when they begin classes. For example, each new belt level is a goal. Once they achieve that goal, their new belt, they can then decide if they want to continue with the classes, but with the understanding that there will be no quitting until the next belt is achieved! Usually a child is so excited to receive their new Taekwondo belt, they would of course want to stay and learn their new material. At each belt level in Taekwondo our students must complete certain criteria that will allow them to be promoted to the next belt. As they complete the criteria and follow the syllabus, they are rewarded and this gives them a sense of accomplishment! It also motivates them to keep going on to the next level.

Your job, as a parent, is to introduce them to positive physical exercises, like Taekwondo, so they’ll learn just how good it makes them feel. Support their exercising by providing the equipment they need, transportation to and from training and events, and support, especially if they’re competing. Then, ultimately, they’ll be excited to participate, will start to look forward to exercising, and as they grow older, will continue to seek out opportunities to be physically active.

Little Tigers

The Little Tiger Program is a detailed curriculum that focuses on improving pre-school-age children’s basic motor skills. These skills will help them enter society with a more confident and enthusiastic outlook. They will become better students at school, better listeners at home and more ambitious towards the future. We believe the time between the ages 4 and 6 are the most important time for a child’s development. Our program will enhance positive development in a fun and motivating way.

The Little Tiger program will also prepare your child for our children’s Taekwondo program. In the Little Tigers classes, will be exposed to positive and social interaction. They will learn to work with others and follow direction from our Instructors, who are specifically trained to work with pre-primary-aged children.

The Little Tiger program focuses on 8 major skills that are necessary for participation in any sport or activity. These are practised in 8 development skills that are used to reinforce family values. Our Little Tiger program helps your child to focus, and gives them skills to achieve any goal they set in life.

The 8 Little Tigers skill requirements are composed of physical and mental benefits. The following are the skills with the benefits from participating in the Little Tigers class.

Skill#1: FOCUS – This will help your child’s aim, listening skills and reaction skills. They will excel faster in any physical activities. Your child will also become a better listener and a more focused student at school.

Skill#2: TEAMWORK – Team work is important for any young child to develop. The more confident your child is willing to work with others, the more he or she will accomplish. Your child will develop character, which will help him or her make new friends and become a better leader in life.

Skill#3: CONTROL – Having control means making good decisions. Whether your child is handling a pet or handling a problem, he or she will learn to make the right decisions. Control builds confidence.

Skill#4: BALANCE – This skill is crucial to learn at an early age. Your child is beginning to participate in many physical activities that are challenging, like riding a two-wheeled bicycle. Your child will develop good balance and better posture.

Skill#5: MEMORY – Developing good memory is exercise for your child’s brain. The sooner your child exercises, the smarter he or she will become. Our drills are constantly helping your child think and make smart decisions.

Skill#6: DISCIPLINE – Our Instructors use the Little Tigers drills to help create the vision that discipline is fun and rewarding. Your child will take pride in doing the right thing. Your child will also follow direction better.

Skill#7: FITNESS – It is important for children to understand the importance of being healthy and physically fit. If your child does not burn off excess energy exercising, how will he or she burn off all that energy?

Skill#8: CO-ORDINATION – Your child will learn left from right. They will become better physical participants in sports and activities. The better co-ordination your child has, the fewer injuries your child will sustain.
In our Little Tiger classes we make learning fun and educational. Our goal is to help your pre-schooler be the best they can be at everything they put their minds to. Our Motto is “Little Tigers today, Leader’s tomorrow!”

Children sparring in Taekwondo class

A quick article on the benefits of sparring in class.

Shy kids find it hard to cope with confrontation. Teasing in the school yard can ruin their day. And a threat from a bully can lead to poor self-esteem and many other problems. Through Taekwondo sparring, children will learn to face up to confrontation.

They learn how to stand in a ring and face someone who is trying to attack them. They learn how to react in such situation and deal with the problem.

Good Taekwondo instructors build up children sparring skills slowly and make sure they practice in a safe environment. So at first Taekwondo kids face a couple of kicks in a drill, may be a few punches... And in time they build up to full sparring bouts lasting around 1-2 minutes. Through their sparring training, children will learn not to panic and not to run away. They will know not to turn their backs, but stand up tall and face their aggressor. They will be able to think clearly under huge pressure and will learn how to hit back in a measured way with self-control. Their confidence will grow tremendously!

When sparring, the children are well padded up in Taekwondo sparring gear. But the odd bruise is part of the territory. (Serious injury in kids sparring is highly unlikely). When kids get a knock it's easy for them to burst into tears and give up. But over time, trough sparring sessions and training, they will learn not to let the situation beat them. They find strong spirit and determination inside themselves.
They learn to take a deep breath and clear their mind of negative thoughts. They learn to keep going! They learn that giving up is not an option.

And the end result of coming through all these barriers and fighting these battles, is a massive increases in self confidence, self esteem, and overall mental toughness.
Suddenly the taunts of the school bully seem less of a problem.

Through sparring, children also learn to deal with success and failure. Your child might be naturally good at Taekwondo sparring, and enjoy some early success. But if your child enters competitions they will eventually come up against an opponent who is better than them on the day. And they will lose.
For a very confident child who is used to early success and winning all the time, this can be very tough to take. It can be very hard for them to handle themselves in the face of failure. The adrenaline rush of competition makes it difficult to stay calm, and they can feel very upset and very low. Many children will unfortunately want to quit at this point!

And that's why sparring in class is very important. You do not always win in class and have to deal with failure now and again. This will prepare the children for the highs and lows of competitions.

If they learn how to stay humble, reflect on what they did well and get back to training with determination and good humor, then they learn a very important life lesson. And they grow stronger in the process!

First class of 2012

Tonight was our first class back after the Christmas Holidays!

It was nice to see everyone back, ready to train hard and start the new year.
We also had a little belt ceremony for the students who took part in the grading on the 19th December 2011. Everybody did really well and moved on to the next grade, making it an other successful end of the year grading.

2012 is going to be a very busy year as we have many tournaments, gradings and seminars lined up. We will also have a few students from Cowbridge grading for their Black Belt in April and October. Exciting news for them and me and it is now time to start working towards it.
I am sure that 2012 will be a very successful year and wish all the students good luck in their training.