Why does your child need to learn how to lose?

Hello my name is Sensei Adrian, I am the owner and head instructor of Bay Area Martial Arts in Oakland. It is really important to teach kids how to fail and how to among failure learn how to get through it and learn how to become stronger in their journey. I will go over why during any activity in this case Karate, why its important for kids to learn how to fail. Though, this might be a common and often times obvious reason why kids should learn failure, I feel strongly as a instructor it should be a topic that should be discussed. We will go over based on my experience as an educator in the martial arts for the last 28 years why failing is a huge importance of a child’s success.

FAILURE CREATES SUCCESS

Failure can create self esteem issues, but if the child has learned anything and building from understanding that they are worth the time and the effort to succeed, they must push themselves to get to the results they want. Often times parents will always try to get kids to quit on goals, on certain aspects of life of challenges, but we must teach children that quitting is not the answer. That, teaching them when its hard that when you should push through it. Sometimes, it can take weeks, months to convince them, but everyone goes through a low point and we need to teach them that life in general is not about quitting its about having the the discipline to push through it to get the success they need to gain.

WINNERS NEVER WIN

There alot of people I have trained over the years I have met who often times, win. Most gold medalist, most who are amazing at what they do. Though, they exceed that excellent in that field of study they never really grasp everything else and often times it comes at a price. That price usually is, an unbalanced in other areas of their life. Sometimes they will lack other areas of life that are important to them or their life skills to often survive in the real world. I myself have experienced that as well, and it important to teach children that real life circumstances need to be addressed. Someone who wins all the time never really does, they sacrifice so much that sometimes that’s all they can do for a skill, hobby or something that should have balanced. If their time is used wisely, maybe they can gain different times of ideas that can help them grow.

The best example I look to use is like this, I can relate it mostly to martial arts because that is my field of study. For example, sometimes you get as a child that uses the same move in sparring. Every time they use the same series of fighting combinations, and thats all they use. Now the other argument is they can “master” this technique over and over again, which for the most part is true. But, also, we must teach kids to be versatile in how they think and how they can fight, and how they can fight for a better life and show their strengths to the world. We must show them that their must be balance in all aspects of life in general and teach them the importance that you can be good at one thing, but also learn that their are other aspects of it that can make that one thing better. To enhance that skill, you must add other areas of relevant material that will make it great.

Winners never win, because its almost a curse. Your so great at one thing, that often times everything else is neglected and forgotten. So we must teach our kids to be a winner in life, surround yourself with different sets of skills that will help them grow. Versatility is the spice of life and since we are always transitioning everywhere that we go kids should learn that change is a major part of life, embrace it as this skill set is most used later on in life.

 

Make it a Great Day!