September 2002 Newsletter

We know that your child’s scholastic success is very important to you. It’s important to us, too. Many parents have credited martial arts with helping their children succeed in school. There are countless stories reporting significant improvements in a child’s grades, learning comprehension, attentiveness, athletics, general behavior and social skills.

While there haven’t been any scientific studies to prove that martial arts training improves a child’s academic achievements, we hypothesize that the martial arts does help children develop specific skills and behaviors that increase the probabilities for success in their lives. We believe that all children have the potential to succeed scholastically, providing they are prepared for the many challenges in life that they will encounter. Here are some of the ways martial arts is helping to shape your child for success:

Self-Confidence
We must realize that it is not enough for parents and teachers to believe that children can be successful. Each child must personally embrace that belief. Self-confidence isn’t something that is touched or seen, but rather something that is felt. Children need that inner feeling of confidence so they will believe they can be successful. A high level of self-confidence isn’t something with which children are born; confidence is developed through positive and negative experiences. Martial arts teaches children to think “I can!” instead of “I can’t.” Martial arts teaches self-confidence by focusing on the education of self-defense through constant positive reinforcement. The knowledge that children can defend themselves from physical harm can boost their confidence levels, which can dramatically improve their academic results. Self-confident children are more than half way to achieving success in school and in anything they attempt in life!

Self-Leadership
Peer pressure can steer children off a path of success. We must teach our children how to become their own leaders so that they will feel and be in control of their own destinies. The same power that makes a child think “I can!” can also provide the ability to say “NO!” Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, skipping school and cheating on exams are all temptations that children will face. Peer pressure will interfere with our children’s academic goals unless they have the ability to make their own decisions. Martial arts training instills a sense of individuality and leadership, giving children the strength to follow their own paths and create their own destinies.

Self-Control
Patience, a positive attitude, appropriate behavior, concentration and attentiveness are all important aspects of selfcontrol that will give children an edge in school and in life. At our school, children learn self-control through our structured classroom environment and through exercise and breathing techniques. The same breathing techniques that are used to develop powerful kicks and punches can also be a powerful resource to help children focus, relax and concentrate on exams, reading and homework. As you send your child off to school this year, make sure they are fully equipped to tackle the challenges ahead. In addition to their notebooks and pencils, give them the tools of self-confidence, self-leadership and self-control. Give them the essentials for academic and life success through martial arts training.

 

HealthKick

Starting the Day Off Right

Now that our crazy summer schedules are almost over, we all need to get back to the basics and focus once again on good nutrition. In addition, we need to fully equip our children for the new school year ahead of them. The best way to accomplish both of these objectives is for our children, and us, to eat breakfast each and every day. Not only do studies show that eating breakfast improves academic performance and job performance, there are recent studies that show even more good reasons to “break the fast”:

In a 1999 study reported in The Journal of the American College of Nutrition, researchers found that people who ate a hearty breakfast (defined as containing more than one quarter of their daily calories, usually in the form of ready-to-eat breakfast cereal), consumed less fat and more carbohydrates during the day than people who had less or no morning meal. If your reason for skipping breakfast is an attempt to decrease your caloric and fat intakes, you are dooming yourself to failure. This and other studies have shown that skipping your morning meal merely makes you hungrier and less able to control your food choices and portion sizes.

In addition, those who ate breakfast in this study had a higher intake of essential vitamins and minerals. And they generally had lower serum cholesterol levels, which is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. If you want to improve your overall nutritional status, consuming a healthy breakfast is a great way to start.

If your reason for skipping breakfast is to save time, what could be easier than a bowl of cereal? Or maybe a mini box of cold cereal while driving to work? Add a glass of milk and a piece of fruit and you have a nutritionally complete great start to your day. If you still feel hungry after a portion of cereal, add another serving of fruit. This is not only a great way to start your day, but also a great way to add fiber and the many other nutritional benefits of fruit. In fact, people who don’t have a breakfast that includes a serving of fruit have an incredibly difficult time consuming adequate fruits and vegetables over the course of the day. Fiber is another nutritional element of which many of us don’t consume e-nough. Since so many breakfast ce-reals are rich in fiber, breakfast time is the ideal time to take in a significant portion of your fiber requirements. (Read the label to be sure that your choice is a high-fiber one.) Use breakfast as your first opportunity of the day to fill your body with the nutrients it craves.

If you have a hard time finding time for even a quick breakfast, perhaps you should try to start your day earlier. Experts suggest that if your morning is rushed, you can significantly decrease the stress your child experiences by merely getting up a few minutes earlier, leaving everyone enough time to get ready for their day. Or you can prepare your morning meal the previous evening, so it’s waiting for you when you get up.

You want your children to start each day on the right foot, being fully prepared for their day. You wouldn’t let your children go to school without getting dressed. You shouldn’t let them walk out the door without eating a decent breakfast, either.

 

American Self-Defense and Fitness Center classes will make children safer, but we focus on much,much more than just self-defense.

We teach ANGER MANAGEMENT and NON-VIOLENT CONFLICT RESOLUTION.

We develop vital skills of CONCENTRATION and FOCUS, and we build CONFIDENCE and SELF-ESTEEM.

 

“My Dad says it’s
about PROTECTION."

"My Mom says it’s about
FOCUS and I say it’s FUN!”