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Evan W. Takes Part in Jump Rope For Heart

All of our 5/6 Lil’ Dragons learn to jump rope as a part of our coordination drills.  This is a great story as told by Evan’s mom about jumping rope and service to our community.

Evan participated in Jump Rope for Heart this year at school.  Last year he went and was very frustrated that he could not jump rope well.  This year, he was incredibly excited about the event, ready to show off his advanced jump roping skills (thanks you balanced life!).  It was a wonderful experience for him and increased his self esteem.  Because he was so excited for the event, he wanted to participate in the fundraising aspect of it, raising money for the American Heart Association.  (Btw, I told him that I did not want to request donations from anyone at BLS because it was the same time as his cereal box drive and I explained how important it was to not ask for too much.)  We went online and talked to friends and family about what he was doing.  Evan raised $445, more than anyone else at his school.  His sister even contributed $5 of her money to support the fundraising efforts!  Overall, it was an incredible opportunity for him to shine in many aspects.  I believe that most of what he gained from this experience grew as an extension of what you teach at BLS and I wanted to thank you for that.
Evan W. jumps rope Here’s a video of some of the more complicated jump roping he was doing that day.

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How to gain confidence from failure

We must try to remember that failure and the suffering that follows can be a wonderful gift to our children. We have to believe and have faith that they can handle it without falling apart. The bottom line is that we need to have confidence in our children and their capabilities of greatness maybe even in areas that surprise us.
Children are born with self-confidence. They will maintain this confidence as long as we as parents and teachers do not bring up their failures and mistakes. We would never have thought to have said to our one year old, “You failed at walking again!” It is not fair to the child to not allow them the room to have internal dialogue and to explore what really happened and how they can do better next time.
What does this have to do with martial arts? In our martial arts training not everything is going to come easy. We are not going to be perfect the first time we try something. In fact we may fail many times before we get it right. So many times when we are teaching jumping rope, a child will struggle for a very long time and then all of a sudden it comes together for them. I love it when I ask them, “How did you do it?” and they just blurt out “I Practiced”. Practice has a way of building confidence. Not just the repetition over and over, but rather the careful study in practice of what is working and what is not and then making the adjustments.
If we allow our children the opportunity to practice this way the lessons they will learn will be life long ones.