This is a Guest Post by a man with two shared passions of Fearless Men: family and martial arts! Jeremy S. is an executive that loves spending time with his son, and recognizes how martial arts provides are opportunity to bring sons and fathers together. If you’re interested in guest posting, visit this page to contact us.
Sons and fathers develop relationships through activities. Like bonding with friends, fathers and sons seek mutual interest in hobbies and physical interaction such as sports. Often, fathers coach or help with soccer and baseball teams, but the position assigns fathers to the peripheral in such situations, with teammates taking precedence regarding shared experiences.
However, playing soccer or baseball together with one’s son is different. It might be difficult to find a father-son soccer league, yet a number of karate facilities offer father-son classes. The enterprise introduces a number of advantages including exercise, fun, and bonding time.
Commonality
Think of best friends. Often, aside from mutual respect and consideration, friends share a commonality, whether it’s a job, philosophy, hobby, etc. Shared karate classes give fathers and sons a shared interest.
Consider two friends who love a particular football team. They watch games together, attend matches, and discuss strategies, players, and developments throughout the season. When the season is over, they must pivot toward another common interest, yet those taking martial arts, perhaps several karate classes per week, constantly host new information to discuss and mutual goals to reach regarding belts and levels of fitness.
Lessons
Sons, sometimes decades afterward, understand lessons fathers present during childhood and adulthood. It’s difficult for sons to retain lessons when presented in vague and broad terms, such as “Don’t be a bully.”
Karate classes give fathers a setting to present lessons, and sons can better understand insights behind statements when ‘experiencing’ them firsthand. For example, in karate classes, there is always someone more advanced, such as the professor, yet the most advanced are often the most helpful to others, especially those with limited experience. A father may point out the fact that rather than taking advantage of their power and the limited strength and knowledge of others, the most advanced help others, a lesson in humility and kindness.
Discipline
It’s easy to make a statement we believe will help others, but it’s more difficult to model the behavior. Karate classes give dads a platform to serve as a good model for their sons. The advancement in karate warrants discipline, and a father’s trajectory through classes can serve as a model to their sons.
‘Working hard’ and ‘doing right’ is sounded often by dads and heard often by sons. But, ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’ insights about discipline makes a bigger impact. Sons learn it’s not about doing as fathers say, but the ability to understand insights, and incorporate discipline into one’s own life.
Fun
Lastly, the combination of physical exertion, body and mind discipline, and constant evolution of skills, makes learning karate fun for both parties. Yes, classes give dads opportunity to teach and reinforce lessons, and the experience provides opportunity for kids to learn, but the teaching and learning would turn sour if the shared event was not fun.
Advancement requires concentration and hard work, but many practitioners admit the occasion is fun, often uniting like-minded people. Fathers want sons to remember lessons learned. In addition, sons want their fathers to be proud. Both parties want to have fun, and see smiles on the face of the other. Karate, though exercise, is a source of entertainment and fun.
Father and son bonding is only a notion away. A number of martial art disciplines are offered aside from karate; find a discipline or activity suitable to desires and levels of fitness. Ongoing activity, such as taking classes, gives fathers and sons the chance to bond through a common interest, which teaches lessons and discipline, and most of all, is fun.
Jeremy S is a busy executive that looks forward to getting as much time in with his son as possible. His articles mainly appear on business and lifestyle blogs.
How much is the cost interested for my son and dad.