That's my girls!

[hanzo]

This afternoon, my kids were playing outside like they like to do. So since it was about time for them to come in to get cleaned up before dinner, I went to go check on them. What do I see?

I saw my six year old had drawn a circle with water. She was standing in the middle of it practicing really hard by herself some kicks and punches I taught her. She was really focused, which is great. Problem is when I went out to take a picture of her doing it, she went from focused to playful. She ran up to me and gave me a big hug and kiss. Then she did her chain punches to my stomach. She did about 30 or so in 20-30 seconds. Not bad for a six year old girl. They were pretty solid and focused too. Yeah! I catch her practicing stuff like that by herself from time to time. Makes my day.

On a side note, I teach a martial arts class to kids and parents together. It is mostly tai chi, but I incorporate some other martial arts and some more physical exercises in it too. After our last class, my little monkey goes, "Daddy, grab my arm." So I do and she proceeds to break out of it like she is taught. She does it a couple of times. Then my wife calls bull kaka. So she has my baby go to her where she grabs her arm. She proceeds to break free each time, my wife says, "OW!" several times. And we have a believer. I didn't teach that stuff in the class yet, just at home.

So she runs off to take a bath.

Then my nine year old wanders in with a stick in hand. She goes, "Daddy, look at my spear!" She had painstakingly ground one end into a point. Cool!

My thought..."THAT'S MY GIRLS!!"

 

[pteron]

I can see they're going to be a handful when they hit their teens!

 

[SimonM]

Nice, proud dad moment Hanzo.

It's never too young to learn self defence.

I used to teach Ju Jitsu, and our juniour class always ended with the question "Who do we not talk to?"...their answer, in chorus, always made me smile..."Strangers".

Simon

 

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

My 15 month old monster (daughter!) will be learning to defend herself. I train in MMA, graping and Brazlian jiu jutsu so she will be encouraged. She loves rough-housing though so it shouldn't be a problem.

Nothing wrong with girls learning to fight. So long as they learn discipline too eh?

 

[Melonfish]

At least you won't have to worry about chasing off the boys when they grow up...
however you may have to help hide the bodies!

my eldest son got his purple peewee belt in ju-jitsu last week, he's really enjoying it, my youngest copies him when he's practicing at home dispite only being 3, he can't wait to learn to be a "ninja" when he gets a bit older

 

[hanzo]

I can see they're going to be a handful when they hit their teens!

What do you mean when they hit their teens. They are a handful NOW!

 

[hanzo]

Nice, proud dad moment Hanzo.

It's never too young to learn self defence.

I used to teach Ju Jitsu, and our juniour class always ended with the question "Who do we not talk to?"...their answer, in chorus, always made me smile..."Strangers".

Simon

Good on you Simon. Thanks.

 

[hanzo]

My 15 month old monster (daughter!) will be learning to defend herself. I train in MMA, graping and Brazlian jiu jutsu so she will be encouraged. She loves rough-housing though so it shouldn't be a problem.

Nothing wrong with girls learning to fight. So long as they learn discipline too eh?

I agree discipline is important. As part of our class, the kids also have to do some standing meditation. I want them to learn to be quiet and still and to focus as well as have fun. And I remind them that they are getting off easy because when I was their age, my standing meditation was for an hour each class...in a horse stance. Ah the good old days of massively quivering legs.

 

[hanzo]

At least you won't have to worry about chasing off the boys when they grow up...
however you may have to help hide the bodies!

my eldest son got his purple peewee belt in ju-jitsu last week, he's really enjoying it, my youngest copies him when he's practicing at home dispite only being 3, he can't wait to learn to be a "ninja" when he gets a bit older

I got my machete and axe. They are both sharp. And my shovel.

I try to make it into a game too and then they like to play. Especially my little one. She just loves smackin her dad around.

 

[Radix lecti]

Hi Hanzo, i have been well versed with the martial arts over the years and have always taught my kids to defend themselves from an early age,i think its a great discipline for them. My eldest son is 16 and has just got into MMA , he is a bit of a handful already or maybe im getting old..lol. Thanks for sharing your story.
Darren

 

[hanzo]

Hi Hanzo, i have been well versed with the martial arts over the years and have always taught my kids to defend themselves from an early age,i think its a great discipline for them. My eldest son is 16 and has just got into MMA , he is a bit of a handful already or maybe im getting old..lol. Thanks for sharing your story.
Darren

Thanks Darren. Best of luck to your son in his MMA career.

 

[Whittler Kev]

I agree discipline is important. As part of our class, the kids also have to do some standing meditation. I want them to learn to be quiet and still and to focus as well as have fun. And I remind them that they are getting off easy because when I was their age, my standing meditation was for an hour each class...in a horse stance. Ah the good old days of massively quivering legs.

As a teacher.....Thank you.
An hour in Horse Stance? You must have iron thighs . 5 minutes was enough for me even while teaching and doing Kata (Shotokan)
I taught my 3 girls how to defend themselves (if running away isn't an option of course) all in their pre-teens.
Youngest one on her first day at secondary school had the 15 year old "hardman" bully demand her dinner money or he was going to "beat her up". As he pulled his fist back she snap kicked him in the part that had just dropped. Felled him, knelt on his biceps to trap his arms. He agreed he had had enough . Never troubled again.....or her friends
Do you drop into backstance to comb your hair . You never forget it do you?

 

[hanzo]

As a teacher.....Thank you.
An hour in Horse Stance? You must have iron thighs . 5 minutes was enough for me even while teaching and doing Kata (Shotokan)
I taught my 3 girls how to defend themselves (if running away isn't an option of course) all in their pre-teens.
Youngest one on her first day at secondary school had the 15 year old "hardman" bully demand her dinner money or he was going to "beat her up". As he pulled his fist back she snap kicked him in the part that had just dropped. Felled him, knelt on his biceps to trap his arms. He agreed he had had enough . Never troubled again.....or her friends
Do you drop into backstance to comb your hair . You never forget it do you?

Thanks for your visuals Kev. I buzz my hair down to stubble so I don't have to do that. And the one hour horse stance standing meditation was in my much much younger years. We did one hour of that twice a week before we started with our main practice. We would all be quivering during and after practice. 30-60 minutes later...all good. Now, that would kill me!

When I did escrima, our warm-ups started with three sets of twisting lunges to our knees (but not touching the ground) while striking your partner, to failure. The partner made it so that your pride would make the sets longer since you don't want to be the one that has to quit. Three sets to failure would be very very short sets for me now. The teacher's (different from horse stance teacher) philosophy is to train when you are tired so you can fight tired. I use that when I coach soccer, but haven't incorporated it into the kid's martial arts class yet. I do the physical stuff at the end of class, since for young kids, being still is harder and the physical stuff is fun.