My day job is in the school of a residential facility.
Twice a month we meet with "Dr.
Bob" for clinicals.
This week Dr.
Bob asked us why we thought kids today seemed to struggle with controlling their anger more so then kids from previous generations.
We tossed this thought around and then Dr.
Bob gave us his theory.
He believes that children are not allowed the opportunities to independently practice self restraint.
He used the example of how he use to be able to look out his window and see the kids at a school near his home play king of the mountain on a snow bank.
He pointed out to us that those sort of games are no longer allowed, not only in the school setting, but that "rough and tumble" play is discouraged in many settings.
Dr.
Bob theorized that this kind of play is a natural way for children to learn self-control, maintaining boundaries, and obviously controlling anger.
I have to say I agreed with his thoughts.
We then went on as a group to discuss how to help kids learn these skills in other ways.
My thoughts during this discussion focused on the ASD population I serve.
Later that night, during Taekwondo Class, the students requested to play "noodle fight".
Noodle fight is a game we use to help children learn self-control.
The students are all given a noodle and asked to stand on their spots, at attention, with the noodle under their arm.
When the instructor says "GO!", the students are allowed to run around the floor and whack each other with the noodle.
When the instructor yells "STOP!", the students answer "yes sir/ma'am" and run back to their spots to stand at attention.
The expectation is for the students to stop IMMEDIATELY when asked.
We often use this opportunity to talk about responding IMMEDIATELY to parents and/or teachers when asked to do something.
We had a lot of white belts in class last night.
Many five year old boys to be more precise.
When Mr.
Lounder yelled "GO!" you better believe they "went", taking full advantage of the permission they had been given to whack each other silly with their noodles, smiling and laughing while doing so.
At about this moment the "mommy" in me tried to surface.
I was feeling a tad bit like I feared the new Karate Parents might be feeling, "OH NO! What did I sign my kids up for! Somebody is going to get hurt!" Suddenly, I remembered Dr.
Bob's comments from earlier.
Instantly, I realized that this game, along with many games and drills we do, was teaching something very important...
Anger Management! Yes, the kids were laughing and smiling, as they often are in these activities.
They don't realize they are also learning things like restraint.
Sometimes a child does get hit a little to hard, and just like a baby puppy learns from it's siblings when it has nipped to hard from the yelp of their litter mate, the children also learn how much is too much.
Once again I was amazed by how much more my students are learning then just kicking and punching.
The benefits from martial arts training seem to be more then a person will ever realize.
I wonder how much I have learned from my years immersed in this art that I'm not even aware I learned.
Twice a month we meet with "Dr.
Bob" for clinicals.
This week Dr.
Bob asked us why we thought kids today seemed to struggle with controlling their anger more so then kids from previous generations.
We tossed this thought around and then Dr.
Bob gave us his theory.
He believes that children are not allowed the opportunities to independently practice self restraint.
He used the example of how he use to be able to look out his window and see the kids at a school near his home play king of the mountain on a snow bank.
He pointed out to us that those sort of games are no longer allowed, not only in the school setting, but that "rough and tumble" play is discouraged in many settings.
Dr.
Bob theorized that this kind of play is a natural way for children to learn self-control, maintaining boundaries, and obviously controlling anger.
I have to say I agreed with his thoughts.
We then went on as a group to discuss how to help kids learn these skills in other ways.
My thoughts during this discussion focused on the ASD population I serve.
Later that night, during Taekwondo Class, the students requested to play "noodle fight".
Noodle fight is a game we use to help children learn self-control.
The students are all given a noodle and asked to stand on their spots, at attention, with the noodle under their arm.
When the instructor says "GO!", the students are allowed to run around the floor and whack each other with the noodle.
When the instructor yells "STOP!", the students answer "yes sir/ma'am" and run back to their spots to stand at attention.
The expectation is for the students to stop IMMEDIATELY when asked.
We often use this opportunity to talk about responding IMMEDIATELY to parents and/or teachers when asked to do something.
We had a lot of white belts in class last night.
Many five year old boys to be more precise.
When Mr.
Lounder yelled "GO!" you better believe they "went", taking full advantage of the permission they had been given to whack each other silly with their noodles, smiling and laughing while doing so.
At about this moment the "mommy" in me tried to surface.
I was feeling a tad bit like I feared the new Karate Parents might be feeling, "OH NO! What did I sign my kids up for! Somebody is going to get hurt!" Suddenly, I remembered Dr.
Bob's comments from earlier.
Instantly, I realized that this game, along with many games and drills we do, was teaching something very important...
Anger Management! Yes, the kids were laughing and smiling, as they often are in these activities.
They don't realize they are also learning things like restraint.
Sometimes a child does get hit a little to hard, and just like a baby puppy learns from it's siblings when it has nipped to hard from the yelp of their litter mate, the children also learn how much is too much.
Once again I was amazed by how much more my students are learning then just kicking and punching.
The benefits from martial arts training seem to be more then a person will ever realize.
I wonder how much I have learned from my years immersed in this art that I'm not even aware I learned.