Kid’s Martial Arts Class
When teaching the kid’s martial arts class, you come across many different personality types. Some are hyper and talkative, while others are quiet and reserved. And others still are in an entire category of their own. Over time and with experience teaching a kid’s martial arts class, you develop different teaching styles to cater to each child’s individual personality. You have to be stern with some and encouraging to others to help them learn the curriculum and understand what is being taught. But there is one thing that all kids need to be taught, regardless of personality or anything else; and that one thing is character.
The dictionary definition of character is “the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing”. To me, there is one major reason why character is important. A person’s character determines his or her future actions and the way he or she participates in society. This is why it’s so important to start building a child’s character from early stage. During the warm up in a kid’s martial arts class, we have something we call a “mat chat”. In this mat chats we talk to the kids about what the character trait for the month is. The character trait could be anything from personal hygiene to how to be a good citizen in your community. The reason behind these character traits is to help the kids realize what it means to care about those around them as well as themselves. Our children will one day be out in the world, interacting with others and making their own choices. We need to make sure to raise children of character who will be good citizens and be active in helping others.
-Brooke Sheck
Elite Training Center
1628 South Pacific Coast Highway,
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 543-1600
www.elitetrainingcenter.net
