Tag: child

Life Skills that Prepare a Child for Being in School

Posted on | by Jason

The earliest years of a child’s upbringing can be the most important in many ways. Professionals who teach pre-school are always keeping an eye out to see whether children are developing mentally, physically, and socially. A variety of important life skills and character traits – fostered at an early age – will serve them well as they grow and face the rigors of education, work, and life in general. These skills relate to all facets of a child’s development from the cognitive base to the emotional. Parents and pre-school teachers have a duty to ensure that children gradually develop a sense of independence that enables them comprehend, adapt, and function at a high level.

In many cases, development of these life skills happens quite naturally, particularly when consistently monitored and encouraged or corrected. To an adult, these skills and traits might seem mundane or trivial, but incremental development of them can have a profoundly positive impact on their futures.

What Skills To Build

Even ordinary tasks as simple as putting one’s clean clothes away carefully or washing their hands before eating a meal are hugely important. In some sense, these are the first steps that a child takes in educating himself or herself regarding concepts like organization, self-reliance, and hygiene. Pre-school children between the ages of three and five are usually not ready to study or work, but can readily learn these skills through structured interactive play and positive reinforcement.

How to Maximize Life Skill Building

In order to master these skills, children will not only need to observe adults doing them but also gain experience performing particular tasks themselves. Certain skills will come quicker than others, especially because no single child is the same as another. As such, pre-school teachers and parents should pay careful attention to which skills are being developed properly and which still require practice. In some cases, a child may need extra help in order to fully understand and learn certain skills. In addition to pre-school, toddlers participating in structured group activities such as pre-school karate frequently learn from an age-appropriate curriculum specifically designed to build life skills in addition to physical and mental skills.

Perhaps one of the most important life skills that must be presented to pre-school children is the ability to interact properly and cooperate with other children as well as adult authority figures. While independence is certainly important, building the social skills of a child begins at the youngest of ages. Social skills and cooperation can sometimes be difficult to measure, and more
often than not require intensive observation on the part of the pre-school teacher or parent. In order to fully allow a child to develop such skills, it is important for pre-school teachers and parents to clearly define their expectations of a child and put into place measures that maximize the capacity for a child to learn and adopt them.

Improve Your Child’s Self-Confidence with Karate

Posted on | by Jason

Karate is an ancient Japanese martial arts form that became popular worldwide during the 1960s, and today for the vast majority of non-martial artists, “karate” is synonymous with “martial arts.” It continues to be a popular discipline across the globe, especially among children and adolescents. Unlike some styles, karate is easy to teach and learn in segments that are age and fitness level appropriate. It’s also a powerful way to guide your kids into becoming confident, caring, and capable individuals.

Karate to boost self-confidence

Self-confidence is the ability to trust yourself and your abilities. For that, you need to first know what you are capable of physically, mentally, and emotionally. To know this, it is essential that you push your limits on a regular basis to see how much you can take. Pushing yourself just a little bit more each workout is the key to extending and expanding your capabilities over time. Since karate and some related martial art forms are essentially about self-improvement of mind, body, and spirit, training is a natural, reliable, and enjoyable way to gain self-confidence.

You can train your kids to practice pushing their limits from a young age, so they learn to give their best in every life situation. Get them started young, in their pre-school years if possible, to reap maximum benefits of karate. These early, formative years are important times for developing bodies and minds. Parents appreciate the physical fitness, good manners, and new friendships formed by their children being in karate.

Karate involves progression from one level to the next, each level corresponding to various
belt colors going from white to black. Each successive rank includes a number of simple and complex moves that must be learned and properly performed, with tests to be passed, to be graduated in rank and belt color. Classes also include free sparring in protective safety gear with peers and seniors to develop students’ self-defense skills.

Karate classes can help children know themselves better and build their self-confidence in many ways.

  • Passing a skill test gives a sense of accomplishment.
  • Sparring develops and tests strategy, speed, agility, and endurance.
  • Praise and positive feedback – and continual progress in the martial arts skills, visible in
    each student’s moves and techniques over time – are motivating results!
  • Getting to the next level and belt color can be a major milestone.
  • It can be a major tool against bullying, helping your kids defend themselves and be safe.

Knowing themselves and improving their abilities give your children the priceless gifts of self- confidence and self-reliance. They learn to have positive attitudes, goals, patience, and other virtues that are especially helpful when trying new things, dealing with problems and setbacks, and facing life’s challenges head-on.


Other benefits of learning karate

The fun practice of karate offers even more benefits to both children and adults who participate regularly. It can teach them many skills and instill leadership traits, in addition to improving their self-confidence.

  • Discipline
  • Physical fitness
  • Social skills
  • Respect
  • Listening
  • Self-esteem

Giving kids the opportunity to learn karate, or any martial arts form, might be the most formative, beneficial, and enduring gift you can give your child besides your love and care. Training, learning, winning, losing, and trying again through the interesting and motivating practice of karate will help them develop good habits and self-confidence. This often results in young people becoming positive, strong, responsible, and confident adults who are ready to take on life as leaders.

The Importance of Developing a Child’s Focus

Posted on | by Jason

One of the most common problems that many children have is in focusing on particular tasks for long periods of time. Developing memory, focus, and attention spans when a child is between the ages of three and five is very important. As a parent or a pre-school teacher, one has to constantly monitor and observe a child, to deduce whether he or she is adequately developing these skills. Doing so will ensure that in the future, when a child is required to deal with large tasks and projects, he or she will be able to “apply” the mind for longer periods of time and yield greater results. Structured, enjoyable activities such as pre-school karate help children learn to focus on the task at hand.

Effects of Technology

Some experts have concluded that the reason why many children today have trouble focusing on tasks for long periods is due to a ‘glancing culture’ that has proliferated as technology
has advanced. The ways in which they interact with digital media have by and large reduced their ability to focus on ordinary or repetitive tasks, and to persevere through less stimulating activities like studying. Video games and social media like Facebook and Twitter can be entertaining and educational, but aside from specific applications, they generally do not assist with cognitive development in a child. In the past, children were encouraged to play games that build cognition among other skills, but that trend has diminished across the United States.

The ability to focus on a particular task, project, or lesson has a direct bearing on the amount of information a growing child can retain and later apply. The capacity to filter out irrelevant distraction and tune oneself to a particular project helps develop self-control in a child as well.

(Good and Consistent) Practice Makes Perfect

Developing a child’s focus is like developing any kind of muscle in the body. More than anything, it takes a whole lot of practice! Parents and pre-school teachers are advised to schedule tasks and activities that help develop a child’s mental faculties. In certain cases, this may be as simple as scheduling time slots where children are required to play particular cognition-building games such as puzzles, riddles, brainteasers, and so on. Some experts believe that even a few moments of silent meditation can do wonders for developing a child’s ability to focus.

While it is extremely important to ensure that children are integrating skills that allow them to focus, one should also keep in mind that they may get exhausted from time to time as well. As a parent or a pre-school teacher, one should regularly schedule breaks where children can relax and rejuvenate both body and mind between tasks.

How to Develop Independence in Your Child

Posted on | by Jason

Among the challenges and joys of parenthood are raising, providing for, and taking care of a young child. Parents develop intensely strong bonds doing things for our children especially during the infant and toddler years, though it is important to know where to draw the line. Doing everything for a child could eventually result in his or her inability to develop particular life skills that will be needed later on in life. As a parent, it is important to strike a keen balance between taking care of your child and fostering a sense of independence and self-reliance.

Even from the youngest age, a child will naturally try to gain some form of independence. Independence traits in a child may be exhibited in small ways, such as insisting on choosing their own clothes, pouring their own beverages, or even going to the bathroom unaccompanied. As a parent, it is crucial that you encourage the choices that your child makes (when appropriate) rather than continually questioning or discouraging them.

Different kinds of independence

Developing self-reliant children can occur in a variety of ways. In many households, children are required to perform tasks on their own just as a matter of circumstance or style of living. In these cases, independence becomes quite a natural trait, leading to children becoming intrinsically motivated. Professionally-supervised activities that focus on self-improvement, such as karate training, are proven to give children a sense of independence and individual accomplishment.

In other cases, developing a child’s sense of independence may require parents to provide some kind of incentive or reward, like a trip to the park or arcade, an extra hour of TV time, or similar. Parents need to be careful in choosing the rewards, though: over-rewarding can be as detrimental to his or her developmental processes as neglecting to offer praise and feedback at all.

Balancing love and practicality

Ultimately, developing a sense of independence in your child means striking a keen balance between supporting them 100% and giving them the freedom to win or lose on their own occasionally. These two sides of the parenting coin are not mutually exclusive. Understanding the cognitive development level of your child at each age is also important, especially when it comes to choosing which tasks you would like your child to perform independently and which tasks he or she will still require some assistance with. As a child grows and becomes familiar with performing certain tasks on his or her own, you can then encourage them to get involved with more complex tasks to further build their independence quotient.