Children Need to Go All Out - Especially If They're Superheros

It was an intense hour and a half.  The hobgoblins, princesses, Jedi, and super heroes descend on the place ready for some fun.  Our martial arts school becomes an indoor playground.  The only thing missing is the jungle gym.  The matted jitsu room becomes the ball room.  The main floor becomes a hockey field.

The children are allowed to invite friends to this event, so the rooms were filled with children going amuck.  I heard a visiting parent ask, "Is it always this chaotic?"

Why, yes.  Yes it is.  Controlled Chaos.

Or at least during parties, we let it be chaotic for the first twenty to thirty minutes.  I'm a big believer that children need to expend lots of energy. They need to do it with free play.  They don't often get that opportunity especially in an indoor setting. But when the time is right, the mood is right, and the place in which it happens is a controlled environment geared toward safety, then I say, let them loose.

And guess what.  The energy that has been pent up all day or all week is finally released in the first thirty minutes of frenzy and then they naturally calm down.  Plus it sort of cool when in the middle of it all, I shout, "ATTENTION!" and every child in the room stops dead in their tracks and comes to attention. You can hear a pin drop.  Impressive.

I sometimes have to remind the children and show the parents that the situation is actually under control.  It just doesn't look like it at first glance.

I fixed up one of our changing rooms as "the haunted spot."  This year I didn't have time to set up my usual haunted house in the corner of the school, so sibok Rocco suggested I use one of the changing rooms.  Perfect - set up in less than an hour.

The children played games, got prizes, and showed off their costumes during the costume contest.  Food was flowing a plenty and the children ate with the same degree of fervor.

Super Girl, Goth Girl, Princess Lollipop

Costume Winner - Kid Captured by Alien

Cheerleader, Arial, & Wolverine

I had a great time.  The parents had a good time watching their children play.  And I know the kids had a great time.  All in an hour and a half.

Back to School Blues

They fall for it everyday.  "We have some awesome, exciting news!"

Eyes fill with excitement and anticipation waiting to get the awesome news. "What? What?"

"There's only 14 more days before school starts!"

The groans, grimaces, and hunching over in abject defeat.

Children really don't appreciate their martial arts instructor counting down the days at every class that "regular" school will soon start.

I look at it as a public service.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

I'm giving them the news everyday so that they get used to the idea and maybe not groan, grimace, and hunch over in defeat when the time comes, at least not so much.

Wing Chun Means Beautiful Springtime

With the warm weather here, class attendance and new student enrollment is up.  Yeah us!

It's as though folks have awaken from their hibernation here in Michigan.  We have felt a touch of spring this last week with temperatures reaching the 60's.  And it feels glorious.  We understand that it's temporary. It's suppose to be in the 30's on Monday.

So get out there and do, feel the sun on your face, find an activity, take a long walk, start a workout, get out of the house.  As northerners, most of us are low on Vitamin D.  At least a few minutes outdoors will lift the spirits, put a spring in our gait, and maybe help us out nutritionally. We need all the help we can get.

Look for a workout that teaches you something as well.  Good for the mind and body.  Then, please feel free to grace our door.  It's a perfect activity to get you out of those winter doldrums.

A New Super Hero at the Party

Every year we schedule a sleep-over or lock-in around the Valentine's Day holiday, giving parents a night out or a quiet night in without the kids.  It was a blast.

The following is a conversation I overheard between three six year olds and the head instructor, Sibok Rocco Ambrose.

"What's with all the flying around?"

"We're super heros.  I'm Superman and she is Wonder Woman."

"Cool.  And what super hero are you, John?'

"I'm Baby Man."

"Baby Man?"

"Yup, Baby Man.  He farts when you least expect it."  

John just made Sibok do a double take.

Class Diary - Trying Becomes Expected Success

Had a good class yesterday.  The class consisted mostly of six to eight year olds.  Even though it was a snow day and the kids were off school, nine of them manage to get to class.  The class was full of positive energy, focused, and synergetic.

I feel that my teaching method is getting better.  As any instructor will tell you, teaching a multi-layered class can be a challenge.  I look at a group by rank, level of experience, and the drills and techniques that need to take place to advance them.

But you also have to look at each individual's personality and the individual needs for each student.  Trying to develop the "Yes, I can" attitude for the kids that are afraid to make a mistake.  Trying to correct, without the word "no." Trying to encourage the timid, without making it a high pressure situation.  To develop self-control in the rambunctious, without squelching their spirit.  To foster worth, self-esteem, and confidence, so that "trying" becomes "expected success."

I think these lessons are learned more quickly when the life lessons are attached to a physical activity.  Success is immediate.  The corrections are made immediately.  The praise, correct, praise method is one that works in this context.

I bow to the teachers that are dedicated to teaching children to read, to write, to do math, to think, to conceptualize. These abstract concepts are at a much higher level in the children's mental development.

It is far easier to teach children to kick, block, strike, jump, spin, and roll, because kids love doing it. And because they love doing those things, it allows me to introduce abstract concepts of self-esteem, focus, discipline, and confidence.

I think I'm also getting better at making abstract ideas more concrete so the lessons I'm trying to teach to kids will be easier to understand. I want these children to feel confident in their abilities, to understand that everything is within their grasp.

Also I'm getting better at reading the kids.  I asked the kids to circle up for our next drill, when one of them spontaneously slid across the floor like a rock star.  I thought, pretty cool.  When a second child followed suit and slid a whole two feet farther, I thought, awesome.  I wasn't losing control of the class, I was witness to spontaneous creativity. You could tell that the rest of them wanted to try it too.  So we went for it, all of them sliding around the school. Two girls and two boys simultaneously slid toward one another as though it was perfectly choreographed. Even the last two timid boys wanted to try the slide, and with the encouragement of all the other children they let go of the fear of making a mistake or looking foolish and learned to slide like a rock star.

That type of spontaneity is important in creating an exciting class.

Pre-Emptive Strike - Women's Self Defense

This weekend we will hold another women's self defense seminar at the school.  As with all safety and health issues, prevention is the key.  Recognizing potentially dangerous situations and removing yourself from them is the first lesson in self defense.

Women practice all kinds of preventative measures to ensure the health and safety of their families.  We teach about fire safety, stranger safety, electrical safety, street safety and water safety by teaching our children to swim.  Parents warn their children against smoking, drugs, and alcohol.  Good meals, monitoring water intake, visiting dentist and doctor regularly, are all preventive measures to ensure good health and safety.

These measures are a type of psychological insurance so that as parents we can rest a little easier.  We take insurance out on our life, health, homes and cars.  We're willing to pay huge sums for these insurances and at the same time, hope we will never have to use them. We are willing to pay because they offer us some peace of mind.

But for women I think there is one more preventive measure that should be undertaken.  Teaching ourselves and our daughters what it means to defend ourselves.  I feel personally that it is a responsibility that needs to be addressed.

When confronted with a potentially dangerous situation, you have options.  Do you know what those options are?  Do you have any idea what course of action is recommended by experts or law enforcement?

Should I get into the car?  Should I run?  What if he is holding a weapon?  What if my child is with me?  Should I be passive?  Should I fight?  What if it's my date?  How will my family cope?  What should I do?

You need to understand what is happening quickly, to weigh your options, and decide according to the situation, what is your best course of action.     And... if you choose to fight?    Then you need to know some solid incapacitating techniques that will give you the seconds you need to get away and get help.

With that in mind, the Women's Self Defense Program at Ambrose Academy is designed to be more interactive.  We have some wonderful people willing to volunteer their time and their bodies to this event.  Women get to test out what they have learned on the "suits."  This way they get a more realistic understanding what kind of energy it takes to incapacitate an assailant.

As with all health and safety issues, what you have learned must be revisited and refreshed, that's why schools revisit regularly fire safety and have fire drills. They invite local law enforcement to talk about drug and crime prevention programs.  Self-defense skills are something you must revisit to ingrain the information you have learned.  This practice shortens the decision making process at a time when seconds really count.

We need to show our families that we care about our safety, that we are worth defending, and that our ultimate goal is to come home safely to our families each and every night.

Because you are your family's first line of defense.  

Who is looking out for you?