Grit!! Do your kids have it?

Why do we teach taekwondo?  We want you and your kids to be the best you can be in life!  We want kids to be successful, in taekwondo, in school, in life!  This is our ultimate goal and challenge.  How are you successful?  How much grit do you have? 

I ran across a short Ted Talk video on grit today and it really inspired me!  Taekwondo, martial arts is really a very great tool in teaching grit to kids! Click here!

The taekwondo journey from a beginning white belt to a black belt takes grit!  And we as parents can help develop that grit by insisting that our children follow through on their commitments to martial arts.  This ability to follow through on commitments is more predictive of a person’s ability to have success in any area of life, more than IQ or social skills or anything else we might imagine.  Can we make a commitment and stick to it?

Now why martial arts specifically?  Your instructors work hard to create a fun, challenging and affirming atmosphere in class.  The curriculum is well thought out, to be challenging, fun and step-by-step to lead a student from white belt skills to black belt skills. 

Classes are fun!  Does it require grit?  Of course!  Your child will want to skip class.  Your child will want to quit!  Ask any parent; yes even the most talented or most passionate child will waver in their grit.  That’s when it becomes mom and dad’s job to encourage and train grit.  No, Johnny, you said you wanted to be a black belt and I’m going to help you with your commitments.  I’m going to help you develop grit.  No student or parent whose child earns their black belt is sorry they did it.

I personally cannot think of any circumstance that trains grit more than martial arts.  It takes courage to stand in front of a bigger kid and spar.  It takes perseverance to master those tiny details that make a form great.  It takes grit to test for a stripe and not earn it; to have the instructor say well let’s work on this portion only to fix that and have them say, “Great, now let’s work on this.”  But through it all there is fun and laughter and accomplishment.  Help us help your kids to develop grit!  Help us help your kids to not be quitters, but to be WINNERS!