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Our Children’s Influences and The Choices They Make

By: Malcolm H. Scott

“My son was always so sweet, and he still is, but, I just feel things could be better, and frankly, I’m at a loss on what to do.”

As parents, early on, we often have a vision of how we would like our child to turn out. Based on our parenting skills, our children’s experiences, their education, friends, and, perhaps some luck, the results will often be varied. What’s the cause and effect? Maybe as parents sometimes we become complacent, not out of a lack of caring or love. No one said it would be easy. Maybe our complex lives are the culprit. Sometimes it takes a lot of work, sometimes it’s simple and at other times our efforts seem to have the opposite affect on our children that we had hoped for. Do we lower our expectations? That sounds crazy. Then, after all, we are awfully busy. Is that just the way it is? How can we create a significant shift? “How can I enrich my child’s life?”

“We just want to be good parents and give our kids a chance. What are those experiences and influences that have some kids go awry and others make choices that keep them on a great path? What if there was a way you could increase the probability significantly that your child will learn and embrace values such as; responsibility, humility, fairness, compassion, and, develop courage and a sense of indomitable spirit? How about learning to face fear head-on and not fearing fear itself but using it as a tool to recognize areas that need work? 

We accept that our children might not be the best at everything they do, but, at a minimum we want them to be decent people.

“It would be so cool if there was a class on ‘how to live your life right’, where does one go for something like that?” 

I’m going to share a little ‘hidden gem’ in our community that many of you might not know a thing about. A place where our children are encouraged and nurtured to let their true spirit blossom.  All while learning respect and recognizing authority and boundaries as a good thing, regardless of how young they might be. This will occupy their time and minimize the time they spend vegging-out in front of the computer, playing video games or watching television. Does that seem a little too good to be true? Champions Martial Arts in Brentwood is that place. Owner and Master Sensei Keith Cooke Hirabayashi has built a school that nurtures our children, by teaching lessons through a thoughtful, comprehensive and rigorous curriculum. Champions Martial Arts isn’t just another Karate Studio, I wish you could have seen the transformations I have witnessed over the last decade or so.

“The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of character of its participants” (Master Gichin Funakoshi)

Karate in America has evolved considerably in the last 40 years or so.

For the most, part Karate was introduced to America through the armed services. Soldiers who studied the fighting art brought it back from Asia after the Korean war, and, consequently, some opened their own studios. The karate schools back then were pretty brutal, not unlike the military itself. In most cases, it wasn’t really a place where you sent young kids.

“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill.” (Sun-Tsu)

In the 60’s and 70’s America was introduced to karate through Bruce Lee’s movies and David Carradine in the television series Kung Fu.

The early Martial Artists such as Chuck Norris became popular action hero’s. But karate for kids, as we see it today, really didn’t get a strong foothold until the 80’s and 90’s. Karate studios began digging deeper into the spiritual aspects of Martial Arts and instructors saw this as an opportunity to enrich the character of their young students through this training, while teaching them self defense and keeping them in shape.

Most of the really good karate schools today instil more of an emphasis on character development. They teach their students to avoid violence and confrontations. Consequently, I have rarely or heard of any instances where kids have ever had any issues. Once the confidence has been developed and one develops a sense of what is right the student would feel as if he let his school and family down by using martial arts training for anything other then a life-threatening situation. But where the true benefit comes in is they get to use the what they learn in Martial Arts training and see the parallels and transfer those lessons to real life situations on a daily basis.

Champions has blended a number of styles of Martial Arts, taking the best from a variety of disciplines and creating a hybrid of sorts.

I’ve seen overweight kids get a handle on their eating habits, I’ve witnessed kids with Asperger’s (highly functioning autistics), over the course of their training, develop social skills, I’ve seen kids with ADHD make great progress and gain confidence, and, I’ve also seen kids that were already functioning at an exemplary level ratchet up their game even more. While results will always be varied, it is exciting to watch the transformation.  It’s been fun watching little kids grow and go off to Cal, Penn., Yale and other great academic institutions. They just turn out to be great kids. After all, we’ve known a lot of them since they were four years old and now they are going off to college. Earning your Black Belt doesn’t look too shabby on a college resume, either.

“I feel that the challenges we receive in the practice of Martial Arts are metaphors for the challenges we face in life. We learn how to deal with them over time with practice. When I can remain calm and centered, particularly as an advanced student, when kicks and punches are coming at me, I then remain in the present moment. When I get upset and fearful, I am not present. Consequently, I will get hit more, and, things will get worse. When I am present and aware, I can make rational decisions from moment to moment, and my situation will improve. Every challenge we face in training can be a metaphor for the challenges we face outside of the dojo. The key is, we are building character, the true foundation of all great people.” Keith Cooke Hirabayashi

  Champions Martial Arts Brentwood – Los Angeles 310-440-1947 in the Barrington Village

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Hidden Gems: Los Angeles to the SouthBay. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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