Boy how have times changed!
This truth may hurt. This article is not meant to offend anyone. It is meant to open everyone's eyes to what we as a society are doing to our children and our nation.
When you were a child did your mother cook for you. When I was a child my mother used to cook dinner every night. She made me eat my vegetables. I couldn't leave the table until I had eaten everything she thought I should have eaten no matter how many gagging noises I made or how much I pretended I was going to throw up.
There was a Dairy Queen about 2 miles away but if I wanted junk food from there, I had to ride my bicycle down without her knowing about it. Sometimes I even walked with my sister.
McDonalds was not located on every corner or every 2 minutes apart back then.
My parents did not let me drink soda. I could only have soda on special occasions like visiting my grandparents and even that was like grape soda or root beer. No Caffeine! I drank strange things like milk, juice and water. Snacks consisted of apples. I took my lunch to school.
I didn't have a video game. I had to do crazy things for entertainment like play outside. I had strange toys like tennis racquets, footballs, basketballs, Frisbees, slingshots and BB guns. I had Gi Joes and toys soldiers. I knew how to play hide and go seek and I could run and ride bicycles. I even knew how to swim and took Judo lessons at the YMCA.
There was only 1 "fat kid" in the school. She was teased a lot. Sorry that is just how it was back then. We just were not used to seeing fat people that were children.
Boy, have times changed!
Cooking! What's that. Parents don't know how to cook anymore. I guess some do but McDonalds is so much easier. They think eating healthy is eating a Fried Chicken Breast sandwich from a fast food restaurant with a diet soda. Soda does not count as water. Kids these days are not forced to eat vegetables. Parents don't want to have to argue with their children. It is a parent's job to decide what a child eats and to make them eat healthy. My son says my job is to protect him. Teaching him how to eat properly and saying no to him is my job as a parent.
Today children think basketball, football, volleyball and tennis are played on video game screens. The only part that is getting exercise is their thumbs. Come on parents. Outside is good for a child. Make your kid play outside. I have parents come into my Karate School everyday with overweight children wanting to get them away from computers and video games. You could just take the games and TV's away. Over 50% of the kids in my karate school come in the door overweight.
When I was a kid I had to take a bath after I was done playing. Today, kids only have to wash their thumb that was working the button or their joystick hands when they are done playing.
When I was a kid we had 4 channels. No cable or satellite TV. Sure there was nothing on TV worth watching so I wanted to play outside. But as a parent today all we have to do is take the TV out of the child's room and turn off the computers and games. Take your child outside and spend some quality time on weekends. My 8-year-old son says Sunday is Daddy Play Day. Sure it is tough on me being 44 but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
A couple of days ago a lady called me. She has a 5-year-old child. I tried to talk here into a program geared for 4 - 5 year olds. She was insisting that her child be in the big kids class because he needed the harder exercise. I agreed to let him try the class out to see if he could pay attention and stay focused.
When the child walked in I noticed he was almost as wide as he was tall. We tried him out; he was as I figured, too young for the class. At this age exercise should not be to get back in shape. It should be fun. A 5-year-old should never have been given the chance to get out of shape. Whose fault is it? Did the 5 year old get the car keys and drive to get a cheeseburger and fries? I don't think so. The parents give in to the child and let them eat what they want. Immediately after the trial class while I was trying to talk to the mother, the child kept saying, "I want Cheetos, I want Cheetos". So what did the mother of the overweight 5-year-old child do? She bought him Cheetos and a Sprite. The child didn't sign up. He said the class was too much work. Since when is exercise too much work?
I have parents walk in every day and not sign up because they don't want to commit to the 1-year contract. They don't want to force little Johnny to do anything that he may not like. Exercise is good for their body and their minds. Do you realize how much better a brain thinks when exercise pushes the blood to the brain? Exercise will make you smarter.
Adults don't want to push their children into anything these days or force them to commit to it because their parent forced them to do things they didn't like to do things. But my question to you is this, are you successful today because your parents forced you to exercise and forced you to commit to projects and sports? Did they let you quit sports when you had a bad day? Did they let you quit anything? Mine didn't. And I thank them for not letting me quit everything. The habits of quitting and not committing to things are going to follow your children through life. If you let them always quit things as a child then they are never going to be able to hold a long-term job as a teen or adult. Think about this when they say karate is too hard and I don't want to go anymore. Think about them quitting their 1st job when they are 16 because they had to work hard that day. Think about them dropping out of college if they make it that far. Think about them quitting a job every 2 years as an adult. Did you quit every 2 years and become as successful as you are today with these quitter habits.
Probably not.
I bet my frustration shows. I guess the reason I am writing this article is to remind everyone over 30 that we were not raised this way so why are we raising our children this way?
James Holan 5th Dan in TKD Owner Texas Karate Do In Irving and Grapevine, TX. - 16887
This truth may hurt. This article is not meant to offend anyone. It is meant to open everyone's eyes to what we as a society are doing to our children and our nation.
When you were a child did your mother cook for you. When I was a child my mother used to cook dinner every night. She made me eat my vegetables. I couldn't leave the table until I had eaten everything she thought I should have eaten no matter how many gagging noises I made or how much I pretended I was going to throw up.
There was a Dairy Queen about 2 miles away but if I wanted junk food from there, I had to ride my bicycle down without her knowing about it. Sometimes I even walked with my sister.
McDonalds was not located on every corner or every 2 minutes apart back then.
My parents did not let me drink soda. I could only have soda on special occasions like visiting my grandparents and even that was like grape soda or root beer. No Caffeine! I drank strange things like milk, juice and water. Snacks consisted of apples. I took my lunch to school.
I didn't have a video game. I had to do crazy things for entertainment like play outside. I had strange toys like tennis racquets, footballs, basketballs, Frisbees, slingshots and BB guns. I had Gi Joes and toys soldiers. I knew how to play hide and go seek and I could run and ride bicycles. I even knew how to swim and took Judo lessons at the YMCA.
There was only 1 "fat kid" in the school. She was teased a lot. Sorry that is just how it was back then. We just were not used to seeing fat people that were children.
Boy, have times changed!
Cooking! What's that. Parents don't know how to cook anymore. I guess some do but McDonalds is so much easier. They think eating healthy is eating a Fried Chicken Breast sandwich from a fast food restaurant with a diet soda. Soda does not count as water. Kids these days are not forced to eat vegetables. Parents don't want to have to argue with their children. It is a parent's job to decide what a child eats and to make them eat healthy. My son says my job is to protect him. Teaching him how to eat properly and saying no to him is my job as a parent.
Today children think basketball, football, volleyball and tennis are played on video game screens. The only part that is getting exercise is their thumbs. Come on parents. Outside is good for a child. Make your kid play outside. I have parents come into my Karate School everyday with overweight children wanting to get them away from computers and video games. You could just take the games and TV's away. Over 50% of the kids in my karate school come in the door overweight.
When I was a kid I had to take a bath after I was done playing. Today, kids only have to wash their thumb that was working the button or their joystick hands when they are done playing.
When I was a kid we had 4 channels. No cable or satellite TV. Sure there was nothing on TV worth watching so I wanted to play outside. But as a parent today all we have to do is take the TV out of the child's room and turn off the computers and games. Take your child outside and spend some quality time on weekends. My 8-year-old son says Sunday is Daddy Play Day. Sure it is tough on me being 44 but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
A couple of days ago a lady called me. She has a 5-year-old child. I tried to talk here into a program geared for 4 - 5 year olds. She was insisting that her child be in the big kids class because he needed the harder exercise. I agreed to let him try the class out to see if he could pay attention and stay focused.
When the child walked in I noticed he was almost as wide as he was tall. We tried him out; he was as I figured, too young for the class. At this age exercise should not be to get back in shape. It should be fun. A 5-year-old should never have been given the chance to get out of shape. Whose fault is it? Did the 5 year old get the car keys and drive to get a cheeseburger and fries? I don't think so. The parents give in to the child and let them eat what they want. Immediately after the trial class while I was trying to talk to the mother, the child kept saying, "I want Cheetos, I want Cheetos". So what did the mother of the overweight 5-year-old child do? She bought him Cheetos and a Sprite. The child didn't sign up. He said the class was too much work. Since when is exercise too much work?
I have parents walk in every day and not sign up because they don't want to commit to the 1-year contract. They don't want to force little Johnny to do anything that he may not like. Exercise is good for their body and their minds. Do you realize how much better a brain thinks when exercise pushes the blood to the brain? Exercise will make you smarter.
Adults don't want to push their children into anything these days or force them to commit to it because their parent forced them to do things they didn't like to do things. But my question to you is this, are you successful today because your parents forced you to exercise and forced you to commit to projects and sports? Did they let you quit sports when you had a bad day? Did they let you quit anything? Mine didn't. And I thank them for not letting me quit everything. The habits of quitting and not committing to things are going to follow your children through life. If you let them always quit things as a child then they are never going to be able to hold a long-term job as a teen or adult. Think about this when they say karate is too hard and I don't want to go anymore. Think about them quitting their 1st job when they are 16 because they had to work hard that day. Think about them dropping out of college if they make it that far. Think about them quitting a job every 2 years as an adult. Did you quit every 2 years and become as successful as you are today with these quitter habits.
Probably not.
I bet my frustration shows. I guess the reason I am writing this article is to remind everyone over 30 that we were not raised this way so why are we raising our children this way?
James Holan 5th Dan in TKD Owner Texas Karate Do In Irving and Grapevine, TX. - 16887
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