Children’s Karate and Delayed Gratification
Have you ever considered what it means for someone to be “mature”? What is the difference between adults and kids? Answer: delayed gratification. The concept that pleasure shouldn’t always come first is becoming more and more foreign to us. Burger King’s famous slogan says it all “have it your way”. There is a lot of money to be made off of giving people what they want, the way they want it, and most importantly, when they want it.
While this can be good as a business model, its a horrible way to build character or skill. Learning how to persevere, (to keep working on something even when it doesn’t feel good), is one of the keys to gaining mastery in any area of life. Karate is no different. One of my favorite things to tell my students is “you control your body, you tell your body what to do”. Another fun way we cover this in class is by the statue game. I can gage accurately a child’s individual self control by this simple exercise. Want to try it? Alright. Don’t move for the next thirty seconds. You can breath and blink, but thats it. What you will probably find right away is how tough this is! Don’t give in though, hold on, almost done? Great! Good job.
One of my core aims in teaching children is to help them make the connection between, work and pleasure, waiting and reward, perseverance and success. Children and adults alike often give up easily. But the whole structure of karate is designed to combat this. This is where the belt system plays a vital and positive role. A child trains for a whole semester to test. They do there best, and hopefully pass. They stand in front of their instructor, their peers, and their family and have their patience and effort rewarded at long last with the a new belt or rank.
It is deeply satisfying to see that look of pride on a child’s face when they ahcieve their belt. They beam with pride. And best of all, the promise that effort+time= profound pleasure is instilled in their brains. The results of this connection cannot be understated in helping shape a child’s future. So here is your homework. Make a decision to double or triple the amount of times you try something before you give up. Be it a computer problem or an exercise regime. Remember profound pleasure= effort+time.
To your success,
Sensei Joseph