Category: For Kids and Parents

Myself, as well as many of my peers and close childhood friends, went through having our parents break up or get divorced while we were younger. In each situation, the parents were choosing to split for varying reasons and there were varying levels of difficulty for each of us. Some had parents who were very […]

  Reading has been a cornerstone of human civilization for thousands of years. Without it, we would not be where we are today. How else would someone in pre-technology times pass on their thoughts, knowledge and valuable life lessons onto the next generation? Perhaps it was educational content meant to teach people the lessons the […]

Focus is right behind confidence in terms of help requests we get from parents. Kids have a hard time focusing much on anything, after all, especially the thing that they need to be doing when they’re told to do it. We have a lot of program-specific tactics we use in our martial arts classes, but we […]

When we talk to parents about their motive for bringing their child in to try out our programs, one of the #1 things we get asked about helping with is confidence. Parents often feel that their kiddo is too shy and they worry that this lack of self-esteem is going to cause them problems making friends and […]

  It comes as a surprise to no one that physical activity would be good for a child’s physical health, but many parents aren’t aware of the profound impact it has on their mental health. Study after study has shown that regular physical activity can lead to numerous benefits for children’s mental health, including improved […]

  There are several things we hope will come to pass for our children. We want them to be smart so they can be well-equipped to make decisions an separate good from bad. We want them to be creative so that they are able to solve problems and stand out amongst their peers. We want […]

  It is no surprise to any adult that the world is a tough place to get by in. At times it is wonderful, but during other times it can feel like everything is going wrong all at the same time.  As a parent, we want our children to understand this and be prepared to […]

When I was younger, video games and cartoons were an incredibly large part of my life. I was the only child at home, and my school friends lived almost 20 minutes away by car, so I found social and mental stimulus almost entirely through the virtual worlds I explored on my Playstation. At the time, […]

I can’t speak for everyone else, but there is a significant difference between a night full of restful sleep and a night where that wasn’t possible. Even an hour or two less than normal can make the day so much more difficult and overwhelming. As such, we treasure our time in bed since it allows […]

  If we look back on our childhoods, it is quite easy to see where certainly habits and personality traits came from. For me, almost all of my traits and beliefs can be traced back to my childhood. Either they are ones that I learned and have held up since I was in school, or […]

Every weekend, a small group of family members comes to our home so that we can have dinner and play tabletop games together. It’s a practice that we started up last September and have carried on for a weekly basis since then (with a brief break around holiday time). For those of us at the […]

Dear Mom and Dad, I wanted to start by saying that I finally understand how difficult life is. I am in my mid-twenties now and even though I’m not as emotional as I was when I was a teenager, this whole “adulting” thing is incredibly hard. I’m already finding it difficult to balance working, hobbies, […]

Children’s challenging behaviors have long been the focus of adults’ pessimistic viewpoint of characteristics that don’t fit the mold of societal expectations. This rigid “deficit thinking” causes parents to complain about their child’s qualities and make them try to “fix” what is wrong or make excuses as to why they can’t do certain things. However, […]

Most are aware of the benefits of physical activity for people of all ages… a stronger cardiovascular system, improved muscle tone, weight management, motor coordination, etc. Additionally, there are brain-boosting benefits that help children with brain function and learning, leading to better school performance. Unfortunately, however, many adults aren’t knowledgeable about the significance of underdeveloped […]

Parenting can be tricky. We want our children to be resilient, empathetic, and able to self-regulate. However, with the busyness of life, the experiences that build these characteristics fall by the wayside, and “no” becomes an automatic response. Children are continually being told what to do and what not to do. As a result, the […]

Over the last year, sports programs have had shortened seasons, if any at all. Because of that, training time for athletes of all ages has dropped significantly. Now, with sports returning to a more normal duration, young athletes are working hard to regain lost skills and recondition their bodies. The problem, however, is that lengthy […]

Parents everywhere want their children to achieve success. This is usually defined by fulfilling societal norms, whether in terms of grades, athletic abilities, or something else. And the push to accomplish these things first is putting pressure on children and parents as well. Comparisons are fueling the expectation for children to develop at a specific […]

There’s no doubt that children’s social skills have become rusty over the past year and not progressed as they should have. With more limited interactions than usual, children have experienced adverse effects on their social development. And while many children have had the opportunity to engage in some school setting and/or activity, there were still […]