Children who are quiet and unassertive find it difficult to interact with both peers and adults. They can find themselves overlooked in both school and social settings. To “break out of their shells,” they must learn to build friendships and gain leadership skills – both essential qualities for personal development….Read More
Still Water Martial Arts Blog
Fear of Failure
Is your child hesitant to try new things? Children can view new experiences as exciting challenges – or as insurmountable barriers. It’s all in the attitude. The fear of failure is a powerful deterrent to trying new things and gaining new skills. It contributes to feelings of low self-esteem. It…Read More
Growing Stronger Character
What does it mean to grow strong character? In general, the term character, as applied to a person, is represented by the values and qualities that make us who we are, that shape our attitudes and behaviors. So, when we say that someone has a strong character, we mean that…Read More
More Reflections on the Language of Discipline
If you have watched my video on How to Discipline and Correct Others, you know that effective discipline relies on a bottom-line principle: Use Your Language Disinterestedly! Disinterest means ‘without bias, open, flexible and neutral in tone or attitude.’ When you are angry at what your child did and you wish…Read More
Why Self Discipline?
Why is self discipline so critical to your child’s development? Because, without the ability to use self discipline or willpower to delay gratification, your child will not develop the skills necessary to excel and to compete in an increasingly complex and competitive world. Everything in life takes work. Teaching our…Read More
Key Behaviors for Self Discipline
We all want our children to possess the self discipline and self esteem to succeed and excel. We notice and appreciate the behaviors of well behaved and disciplined children and sometimes feel ill equipped to help our child to attain these skills. Though this development is vital its attainment is…Read More
Teaching Your Child Self Discipline
How can I teach my child to have the self discipline to succeed? The first thing we can do as parents is to be sure that our methods of discipline and control are promoting a feeling of self worth and self esteem in our child. Setting firm limits with your…Read More
Create the Mood for Motivation
When’s the best time to get a child to comply with your instructions? When they’re feeling happy, secure and focused, of course! That’s why our martial arts schools work hard to set a positive atmosphere. That’s how we reap such positive results. To do this, we make sure our school…Read More
Gateway Behaviors are Like Gateway Drugs
When I was in junior high school, we used to have to watch those corny “gateway drug” educational films. Do you remember those? They followed a similar plot: Some clean-cut teenage boy would steal a beer from the family fridge; next we see him bowing to peer-pressure and puffing on…Read More
Small Acts, Big Goals Build Confidence
It is our experience in our martial arts schools that when we start to build a child’s confidence, his or her self-assuredness builds and gains momentum. The best way to start your child on this path upward is to start by giving him or her small, relatively attainable goals. For…Read More