North Florida Tae Kwon Do

February is a great time to start a martial arts class with your partner or your child. If you made a New Year’s resolution to get in shape, meet that goal with martial arts classes. Working together, as a team, can keep each of you motivated and involved.

Having someone to work out with, and encourage and inspire you to keep going, is a great gift. Utilize your team for that very reason. In return, give your attention and praise to the people who are helping you. One of the greatest gifts you can give another is interest in what they are doing.

Think of giving your team a membership to the local martial arts school for Valentine’s Day. If they are already students, give them gift cards to purchase equipment they may need for their class, or a new uniform.

Regardless of how you express your love to the people who are closest to you, remember you are a member of a team that lives together, works together, plays together, and/or takes class together. Make them proud and earn their respect. Encourage them when they do something well and invite others to join you when they need some inspiration.

If you don’t have a team, join one or start one. A team can start with just another person who has the same goal or vision. Work towards your goals and measure the efforts, not the results.

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”  
— Vince Lombardi

Often, February brings to mind pictures of young lovebirds and cupid flying through the sky. Keep in mind, Valentine’s Day may be based on partnerships and St. Valentine, but there’s a lot we should recognize about the fun, heart-filled holiday.
It offers an opportunity to do things with a partner, whether your partner is a child, spouse, significant other, or friend. That’s why, if you mention this article to our martial arts school, you’ll be entitled to a free trial class with no obligation when you sign up with a friend or family member.
You may be aware that martial arts training is great for kids and adults. You may even know adults benefit from exercise, stress relief, self-defense, and goal setting, while kids learn disciple, goal setting, self-defense, and respect building, enhance their motor skills and flexibility, and earn better grades.
Have you thought of doing martial arts with a partner? A partner doesn’t have to be in the same class, even though that may be possible. It means, at a minimum, being involved in the same activity so you both have a commonality and maybe even some common goals. Having a partner, in any activity, including martial arts will offer numerous benefits:
Accountability – Having a friend or child always looking to see if you are training is a huge motivation to stick with it.
Commitment and Motivation – There is nothing better than having a partner committed to the same goal as you to keep you involved and motivated.
Competition and Support – As long as the competition is healthy and friendly, having friends in the same workout routine acts as a support community. This may enhance your chances of sticking with it greater than any other motivation.
Variety – When working out with partners, you have the ability to keep it fresh. Even though you will have an instructor guiding the way, you and a partner can practice together outside of classes. This is not always the case in individual exercise programs

Did you ever sit down and think about your job description as a parent or guardian? If not, read this and see if it fits your job duties:

Position Available For a Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma,Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa

Job Description: Long-term team players needed for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work varied hours, which will include evenings, weekends, and frequent 24-hour shifts.

Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities! Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

Responsibilities: For the rest of your life: Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.

Must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.

Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets, and stuck zippers.

Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars, and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.

Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages.

Must be willing to be indispensable one minute and embarrassed the next.

Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half-million cheap, plastic toys and battery-operated devices.

Must always hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.

Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

Possibility for Advancement & Promotion: None.

Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retaining and updating your skills so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

Previous Experience: None required, unfortunately.

On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

Wages and Compensation:

Get this! You pay them, offering frequent raises and bonuses!

A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.

When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

Benefits: Does not include the following benefits: health or dental insurance, pension, tuition reimbursement, paid holidays, or stock options.

Does include: limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life, if you play your cards right.

If you are fortunate enough, you will become a grandparent and can then work an entire new job description.

We had a great testing on the 10th! A lot of great action and spirit! Everyone had a good time!

Remember: Your trip to Black Belt is not a sprint..It is a marathon!

Many countries set aside a day for giving thanks. In the U.S., we call this day Thanksgiving, when many people get together with their family and friends for dinner and talk about what makes them grateful.

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.”— Brian Tracy

Dr. Robert Emmons, the author of Thanks! shares with us his nine tips for actually becoming more grateful and, consequently, more happy.

1. Keep a gratitude journal

Sit down daily and write about the things for which you are grateful. Start with whatever springs to mind and work from there. Try not to write the same thing every day, but rather, but explore your gratefulness.

2. Remember the bad

The way things are now may seem better in the light of bad memories. Don’t forget the bad things that have happened; the contrast may encourage gratefulness.

3. Ask yourself three questions

Choose someone you know and ask yourself what you have received from them, what you have given to them, and what trouble you have caused them. This may lead to discovering you owe others more than you thought.

4. Use your senses

Eighty percent of people say they are thankful for their health. If so, then get back in touch with the simple human fact of being able to sense what is out there. Use your vision, touch, taste, and smell to experience the world, and be thankful you can.

Use visual reminders

Two big obstacles to being grateful are simply forgetting and failing to be mindful. So leave a note of some kind reminding you to be grateful. It could be

1. a post-it, an object in your home, or another person to nudge you occasionally.

2. Swear an oath to be more grateful

Promise on whatever you hold holy that you’ll be more grateful. Sounds crazy? There’s a study to show it works.

3. Think grateful thoughts

Called ‘automatic thoughts’ or self-talk in cognitive therapy, these are the habitual things we say to ourselves all day long. What if you said to yourself: “My life is a gift” all day long? Too cheesy? OK, what about: “Every day is a surprise.”

4. Acting grateful is being grateful

Say thank you, become more grateful.

It’s that simple.

5. Be grateful to your enemies?

It’ll take a big creative leap to be thankful to the people you most despise. But big creative leaps are just the kind of things likely to set off a change in yourself. Give it a try.

Now, the last tip may be hard, but holding a grudge or being angry or frustrated with another person is only hurting you. So as Dr. Emmons suggests, give it a try.

It may also be fun this Thanksgiving to make up your own list of things for which you are grateful. Ask every person sitting around the table to mention something that happened to them that was not so pleasant and why they can be grateful today. Maybe experiencing bad things can make us more grateful for the good things that happen to us.

Are you ready for the first day of school? Better yet, are your kids? Often, young children (and parents, too) have a lot of stress and anxiety about the first day of school. Below are a few tips to help make the first day and first weeks go as smoothly as possible:

1. Be positive! As the first day gets closer, talk about fears and expectations. Make sure you acknowledge and talk about them and reassure your children.

2. Take part in school activities. Students who participate in one or two activities tend to be more engaged in school and academics. Don’t over-commit to too many activities, but remember that one or two can be a great thing for your children.

3. Because summer schedules differ, it’s important to start a new sleep routine early. Start getting your kids into the new sleep schedule a week or two before school begins

4. Stock up on supplies. Make sure your kids have the proper school supplies before the first day. Many schools have lists available and some stores even post them in the school supply section.

5. Take a dry run to help alleviate your children’s stress levels. Go to the bus stop, school, classes, etc. Do as much as you can that will happen on the first day of school. Just as with martial arts, practice makes perfect.

6. Eat right! Start the morning off with a healthy breakfast for the whole family.

7. Prepare! Get ready the night before so there’s not a rush and you don’t forget anything. Get everything in order and your kids will be ready for the first day of school!

As you prepare for the kids to head back to school, one thing many parents forget or put off until the last minute is lunch. You can tell it’s true just by looking at your grocery store. There are so many last-minute snacks and lunches that didn’t exist 10 years ago. That being said, lunch can be as important as breakfast, especially during the school year.

Children who eat processed foods and sugars often:

1. Feel slow and sluggish later in the day.

2. Lose concentration easily.

3. Show signs of sugar highs and lows.

Tips for packing a healthy lunch:

1. Include fruit and vegetables.

2. Offer milk or water; never soda.

3. Serve fruit juice; never fruit drink.

4. Prepare a good mix of protein in your bagged lunch.

5. Use 100% whole-grain bread, rather than traditional white.

Another suggestion for making lunches fun and healthy is to get the kids to help. When they participate in choosing and preparing their lunches, they’re more likely to eat them. Also, be creative; cut sandwiches into shapes and leave notes in their lunches.

You’re not alone; you can always go online for more information about preparing healthy lunches. It’s worth the extra work to earn an A+ from your kids.

Summer can be a painful and even dangerous experience for both children and adults if proper attention is not given to the sun and other summer factors. Below are a few common sense tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Sun Safety

•   The first and best line of defense against the sun is covering up. Wear a hat with a three-inch brim or a bill facing forward, sunglasses (look for sunglasses that block 99-100% of UV rays), and cotton clothing with a tight weave.
• Stay in the shade whenever possible and limit sun exposure during the peak intensity hours – from 10 am-4 pm. 
On both sunny and cloudy days, use a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or greater that protects against UVB and UVA rays. 
 • Be sure to apply enough sunscreen – about one ounce per sitting for a young adult.
• Reapply sunscreen every two hours and after swimming or sweating.

Pool Safety

• Use extra caution near water and sand (and even snow!), as they reflect UV rays and may result in sunburn more quickly.
• Install a fence at least four feet high around all four sides of the pool. The fence should not have openings or protrusions that a young child could use to get over, under, or through.
• Make sure pool gates open out from the pool and self-close and self-latch at a height children can’t reach.
• If the house serves as the fourth side of a fence surrounding a pool, install an alarm on the exit door to the yard and the pool.

• Never leave children alone in or near the pool or spa, even for a moment.
• Keep rescue equipment (a shepherd’s hook – a long pole with a hook on the end – and a life preserver) and a portable telephone near the pool. Choose a shepherd’s hook and other rescue equipment made of fiberglass or other materials that do not conduct electricity.
• Avoid inflatable swimming aids such as arm
  floaties. They are not a substitute for approved
  life vests and can give children a false sense
  of security.
• Children age 4 and older should be taught to swim. Parents may choose to start swimming lessons before age 4 if their children are developmentally ready, but swim programs should never be seen as drown-proofing a child of any age.
• Whenever infants or toddlers are in or around water, an adult should be within arm’s length, providing touch supervision.
• Avoid entrapment. Suction from pool and spa drains can trap an adult underwater. Do not use a pool or spa if there are broken or missing drain covers. Ask your pool operator if your pool or spa’s drains are compliant with the Pool and Spa Safety Act.
• Large inflatable above-ground pools have become increasingly popular for backyard use. Children may fall in if they lean against the soft side of an inflatable pool. Although such pools are often exempt from local pool fencing requirements, it is essential that they be surrounded by an appropriate fence, just as a permanent pool would be, so that children cannot gain unsupervised access.

There are so many activities to do during the summer, but it sure can get expensive. How do you manage the expense and still make sure summer is fun? Here are a few ideas that are not only fun, but affordable and, best yet, you can do them with your children.

1)  Plan a picnic. This is a great activity that can actually take two days. First, plan the event by choosing a few spots that will be fun, but let the kids vote on the final choice. Have them help with the menu and preparations for it, too. It doesn’t matter if you have peanut butter and jelly or tuna fish; just let them help make it the night before. You can make it really special by letting them help bake a cake or cookies for your picnic.

2) Go fishing. Yes, in a day and age where TV and video games are king, the idea of fishing may not sound exciting, but you’ll spend great quality time together. A couple of fishing rods from the local discount store and a fishing license could run around $30 (a lot less than a day at an amusement park) and you are good to go for a few trips during the summer.

3) Plan arts and crafts. This indoor activity is great for those blistering hot hours of the day and the range of options are endless. Go to a local craft store and pick up a couple plain shirts and paint to create one-of-a-kind T-shirts. This fun activity will cost less than $6 per shirt.

4) Plant a garden. This can be an educational and fun activity for both boys and girls. Plant seeds and watch them grow or pick starter plants. If you choose vegetables, it’ll be fun picking and then fixing them for dinner or a picnic when they’re ready.

5) Sit by the pool or lake. Not everything needs to be high energy, so sitting by the pool can be fun and relaxing. Bring a short book or magazine to read while soaking up the rays, but make sure everyone wears lots of sunscreen.

Have you ever wondered where we get the belt system used in most martial arts schools? In modern age martial arts, belt colors are determined by either an organization or each individual school. Often, the colors have some symbolic meaning and, almost always, the main focus of the belts is to mark milestones in a person’s training. This is a way to help set goals and chart progress.

What many don’t know is that not all
schools have belts. Some styles have sashes and others have no belts at all. Because of the term Black Belt, many people think everyone uses a belt system. Also, today’s belt system is different than that of yesteryear. One reason actually has nothing to do with tradition, but with the fact that certain colors and fabrics weren’t always available.

The traditional story of how color belts came to be is due to nature. All students started as white belts and, through time, the belts changed color from the advanced level of training that was taking place; yellow from sweat, then green from grass stains, brown and then black from the ground. As time went by, a person’s belt just kept getting darker and darker. You could tell how long people trained in martial arts by how dirty their belts were.

The tradition has stuck, at least for white and black belts. Today, you can see pink belts, camo belts, two color striped belts, and more. Though they did not exist way back when, they offer the same three objectives: 1) to show progress 2) to set goals, and 3) to keep your clothes on.