https://youtube.com/shorts/cjRxR4vrpOA I remember exactly when it started. It was about 20 or 25 years ago, right when I was working as a public school elementary teacher. I spent a decade teaching fourth and fifth-grade band and orchestra—I hold both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in education, and alongside my 39 years in the martial […]
https://youtube.com/shorts/1XSyvRL7qVo Over the last five or six years—and honestly, ever since the disruptions of COVID—I have noticed a massive, troubling shift on our training mats. I call it the “Push-Up Test,” and it highlights a major crisis in childhood resilience. When a child walks into our dojo today, it doesn’t matter if they are 5, […]
https://youtube.com/shorts/fcd1Q-O6MSw As a martial arts professional who has been training and teaching for over 39 years, I hear from worried parents every single week who are trying to navigate the painful reality of schoolyard bullying. When a child comes home crying because they are being teased, poked, or picked on, well-meaning parents often resort to […]
https://youtube.com/shorts/vs3o0B1L4qk It is one of the most common, exhausting complaints parents bring to our lobby: “Kurt, my child completely lacks focus. They can’t sit still for their homework, they drift off in class, and they just need help learning how to pay attention.” But then, those same parents will say something that exposes the real […]
https://youtube.com/shorts/J_diO-arLTM It is one of the most frustrating, exhausting cycles of parenting. You ask your child to do something calmly. They ignore you. You ask a second time, a little firmer. Still, nothing. You ask a third time, and they don’t even look up from what they’re doing. Finally, you lose your temper, blow your […]
https://youtu.be/ydMdEo75xf4 It happens all the time: a child is absolutely dynamite at an activity or sport, yet by the time they reach their teenage years, they throw their hands up and want to quit. You might think this drop-off—which drives up to 70% of kids away from organized activities—is just a natural result of hitting […]
https://youtu.be/UsCwT296umA It is one of the most common, exhausting complaints parents bring to our lobby: “Kurt, my child loves your class once they are on the mat, but getting them out of the house today was an absolute nightmare. They just kept crying that they didn’t ‘feel’ like coming.” This isn’t an isolated problem unique […]
https://youtu.be/WChGyBGhh34 If you spend any time scrolling through TikTok or Facebook these days, you will eventually hit a viral wave of deeply shocking videos. You see videos of high school seniors standing outside their principal’s office, completely astonished and weeping because they just found out they aren’t going to graduate. Then you look at the […]
https://youtu.be/O-yArOBjDaw I remember exactly when the cultural shift started to take root. It was about twenty years ago, early in my career as a public school elementary teacher. All of a sudden, a wave of “participation awards” flooded the educational system. If kids competed in a school spelling bee, a science fair, or a gym […]
https://youtu.be/Cqr_HmhvmNo If you look back 10 or 15 years ago, a standard introductory class at a martial arts school looked a certain way. A seven- or eight-year-old child would walk onto the mats, and if you asked them to drop down and show you what they had, they could easily pop out five to ten […]
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