(Excerpt from the 12 Life Skills article)

Where?s the Beef? 12 Life Skills for Children

I am looking for a program to give my children life-long confidence. I want them to be self-reliant, caring, respectful and fun-loving. Basically, I am looking for To-Shin Do (Ninja self-defense) and the accompanying 12 Life Skills for Children.

My children do not live in 1400′s Japan. There is no threat of Samurai taking my children from their families or of them being put into slavery. Yet, the threats that my children face daily are as real as a sword-wielding Samurai bent on enforcing his rules. My children face on an everyday basis the unfortunate society rules of accepting mediocrity. They will have to battle against class mates and co-workers bent on thriving on ego and tearing others down, instead of supporting each other and building each other up. They will face in their life individuals that will try to buy them off with money or affection, instead of valuing the beautiful souls that they are.

And, don’t be fooled; these actions begin in kindergarten.

I am not a pessimist. I simply am seeing the state of our society today, and want to provide my children with a support system outside of our home that allows them to live full, productive, fulfilled lives.

This is where the To-Shin Do C.O.O.L. Kidz program steps up to bat (C.O.O.L. is “confident, on-purpose, on-target leadership”). Heck, even the name is cool! This really must be what I am looking for.

Imagine how your children’s lives would be improved with knowledge of the following 12 skills:

 

*         Kicking- Not only developing your large muscle groups to support you in sports and on the playground, but learning how to use low kicks (some where a child can reach on a larger person) to defend themselves.

In addition, the kids practice “kicking” bad habits out of their life.

 

*         Teamwork- a much used word for a reason. Kids need to be able to work with fellow team mates, whether in the class room or eventually in the boardroom. Effective teamwork is a top skill of powerful leaders.

 

*         Spirit- paying attention to ones feelings and intuition is a skill we are born with, but forget to exercise. Youth of today need to be able to pay attention to applying the right attitude in the right situation.

This is a partial list of the 12 skills our children focus on in To-Shin Do. There is so much more, but simply employing these named skills will breed strong, healthy, confident kids.

For more info, contact Newbury Park Martial Arts Center at www. npmac.com