LIONS Martial arts can do this [3 Minute Read]

THIS WEEK: I share some of the tools and techniques I use at LIONS Self Defence and Leadership Martial Arts in Leicester to empower our students to do well at school and how you can adapt these simple skills and use them at home.

Each new academic year is a fresh start and a chance to learn/do/be/see new things. As kids go back to school, set them up with the best tools techniques and strategies to stand out for all the right reasons and bring back glowing report cards to be proud of.

At LIONS we pay particular attention to taking the life skills that we learn in class and applying them in all areas of home and school life! I received an email from one of the mothers of a boy who comes to one of our 5-8 year old class. She said that over the 6 months that her son has been with us at LIONS Self Defence & Leadership Martial Arts in Leicester his school teachers have noticed his behaviour and concentration dramatically improve. She said that she now uses a reward system, like the one at LIONS, at home with her son. She told the school that she attributes this improvement to our classes so… I thought to share some of the cornerstones of ‘black-belt behaviour’ that we work on at LIONS and how you can apply them at home…

NINJA FOCUS: Martial arts teach kids to pay attention, it’s all very well to just say ‘pay attention’ but at LIONS we actually teach what that means. We explain that there are 4 parts of ourself that we must pay attention with…

Eyes: Looking at the person who is talking to you
Ears: Listening to the teacher to show respect, this means our mouth is closed an we are not listening to anyone else.
Mind: Mind is focussed on what the teacher is saying and we are not thinking about anything else.
Body: We are sitting with backs straight, smiling, and facing the teacher. We are NOT fidgeting or messing around with friends.

DO IT AT HOME – Teach your kids what paying attention means and how to use these 4 parts of the self to do it. Also teach them why it is important (respecting the teacher, learning and getting the most out of the lesson so they can lead their best life etc)

SAMURAI DISCIPLINE: At LIONS we teach all of our students the meaning of the word DISCIPLINE. it means to do your best ALL of the time. All of our students understand that anything less than their best is not black belt behaviour.

DO IT AT HOME – Talk about the importance of always doing your best, how doing your best means that you can live your best life.

DRESSED PRESSED & READY TO IMPRESS: We teach our kids the importance of uniform and taking care of their appearance. This means that the uniform is clean, ironed and the belt is tied properly. We also teach them the importance of having respect for clothes and personal belongings and to have pride in our school uniform. This translates into the academic school uniform too.

DO IT AT HOME – Make your kids responsible for their uniform, let them have a ritual of coming home taking it off, putting on their hanger and getting changed. It teaches responsibility and pride in appearance which can carry over into later work life.

MASTERFUL RESPECT: Our kids learn in every lesson to show respect for the teacher, environment, the art, each other.

DO IT AT HOME – establish a set of ‘respect rules’ and write them down with your child – review these rules regularly. ALSO review respectful behaviour rules before you go into certain situations…such as respect at school (listening to the teacher, making others feel included, not shouting out etc) on the way to school OR respect in a restaurant (saying please and thank you, not shouting loudly, not interrupting) on the way to the restaurant. Follow this up with positive praise when the respectful behaviour is carried out. After all, what we praise grows.

IMPORTANT – Dedicated character education like that at LIONS goes a long way – One study from Oregon State University suggested that when involved in a character-based program reading scores improved by 21%, Maths scores improved by 51%, Suspensions dropped by 70% and negative behaviours were significantly reduced when the program was taken for 2 years or more. If ever you are in our area and would like to enrol your kids or teens in our LIONS martial arts school in leicester we would love to have you and make you feel at home – www.LIONSSelfDefence.com/join – 07452924496 … Our Programme empowers kids with skills that they carry over into their home and school life. Just take a look at one of the messages I received from a parent which shows how what our kids learn in class translates to home life…

If you are not in our town or for any reason our programme isn’t right for you, take the time to look for a Martial Arts School which had a dedicated character development curriculum, they are difficult to find but certainly worth the effort! You should ask how the programme is taught – for example: Our LIONS Life Skills is taught through a focus on one age specific skill per week in 12 week cycles. The lesson if focussed on this skill with all of the physical drills linking back to it. Our Leadership Programme is taught with a focus on one leadership power word per month where our students embody the essence of the word and complete tasks at home to show they have understood the true meaning of the word. There are different formats and if you need any help understanding more please feel free to reach out – I am happy to help.

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