Kung Fu - Helping Your Child Achieve their Black Sash

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Kung Fu - Helping Your Child Achieve their Black
Sash
Jow Gar Kung Fu
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James and Paola Gordon Parents of Christopher
and Sybilla Paola and I have been asked more
than once over the last few years how we managed
to get both of our kids to stick with Kung Fu for
so long. All in all, our kids have spent a
combined total of around 10 years learning Kung
Fu, which is actually quite remarkable given the
range of other sports and activities that are
available and the pressure that kids often get
from their friends to participate in other
things. It hasn't been all smooth sailing on the
motivation front though. There were de?nitely
times when our kids' motivation for Kung Fu waned
and there were several things we did to help them
get through those times.
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One of the simplest things we learned was that
sometimes they wouldn't want to go to Kung Fu
because they were immersed in something else and
didn't want to be dragged away from it to go to
Kung Fu. Or they were "feeling a bit tired" or
"not really feeling like Kung Fu today". In most
cases, reminding them that they usually had fun
when they went to Kung Fu was enough to convince
them to go. Sometimes it would take a little more
persuasion, but usually not too much. If they
really were quite tired or coming down with
something then we would let them skip, but
generally speaking they were just being kids and
once they got to Kung Fu they did, in fact, have
a great time. Another thing we noticed was that
sometimes our son, in particular, would hit a
peak with a certain form but if he didn't get to
grade it within a few weeks of hitting that peak
he would get bored with the form and, because of
that, start to become quite demotivated. We found
that the best thing we could do in this situation
was talk to Sifu Nathan and the instructors and
work out a way to get him grading the form to an
acceptable standard in a reasonable amount of
time. A couple of times this meant doing a
private grading in the middle of the month, but
it was worth it because his motivation levels
would shoot up when he got to the next level.
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And that brings me to the biggest motivator of
all gradings. The beauty of graded martial arts
systems like Jow Gar Kung Fu is that they provide
regular opportunities for assessment, feedback
and promotion, which allows kids and adults alike
to build self con?dence and be recognised for
their efforts as they advance to each new sash.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that computer
games are built on the same ideas, providing
opportunities for players to "level up" by
achieving certain goals and rewarding them with
some kind of badge or token for their
achievements. Both of our kids would be pumped
after each grading and would remain enthusiastic
while they were learning their new form. The
challenge would come once they had ?nished
learning the sequence and were in the re?nement
stages. It was during this time that we would
remind them how close they were to the next level
and that each grading was bringing them closer to
their ultimate goal. The fact that the
instructors take the kids through a goal-setting
exercise at the start of the year certainly helps
in this regard.
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• Finally, we also talk to our kids at regular
  intervals about how they are enjoying Kung Fu and
  their other activities and what their goals and
  ambitions are. And we make sure we ask them these
  questions at the right time for example, over a
  relaxed dinner on a non-busy night. This gives
  the kids time to think about their answers and it
  allows us to think about their answers and, if
  there are doubts around something like their
  commitment to Kung Fu, to be able to have a
  deeper discussion and explore things further.
• We are very grateful to Ken, Eric and Harry, who
  have all played an important part in helping our
  kids remain focused at Kung Fu and, dare I say
  it, acting as terri?c role models! -) And we are
  also extremely grateful to Sifu Nathan, who
  really does go to a signi?cant amount of effort
  to ensure that our kids are not only learning
  good Kung Fu, but respect, focus and
  self-discipline as well, as these are, in my
  opinion, the foundations for success in life.
• James Gordon

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Thank You
Jow Gar Kung Fu