Mountain Warrior Kung Fu Academy

Understanding Kung Fu for life, health and self defense

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game. Michael Jordan

Play time outside is more important for your kids than any academic training they may receive and the ability to play, create and invent is dependent on your child's appreciation of nature.

Our culture sends it's children into a formal academic situation far too soon. Children are not physiologically ready for these formal settings until the age of about 13. Why? People have many different learning modalities. Some love to learn through touch. This is called tactile learning. Some are visual learners. They observe and take every thing in. Others are auditory learners. All of our senses are involved in learning. The system we currently have requires that all learning modalities be fully integrated or working together as one unit. However the human body does not fully integrate its systems until the age of about 13.

So in our culture we send our babies off to school at the age of 5 with their little lunch boxes and hope for the best. Suddenly they are accosted by sights and sounds they are not familiar with. They are required to sit and follow new rules. They are dealing with people they have never met before. Their sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell systems are reeling at all the new sensory input, and yet we somehow expect them to adjust and learn. This is insane.

Yesterday I sent my twelve year old and 15 year old out to play after they had finished their chores and their lessons. On their own they picked up their training sticks from Kung Fu. I sat inside drawing plans for this years garden as I heard the steady clack, clack, clack, sound of two siblings engaged in creative play and self defense training all in one. This activity was punctuated by laughter and giggles, and intermittent ball throwing, tree climbing and playing with the animals. They were learning to live in the moment.

Think about your life and what you are learning. Learning never stops. The opportunity to make it fun never stops. Study your life. Study your kids. Ask them what they think and listen to their answers. Ask them why they think that and listen. Then play with them! Get outside and breath in the freedom of the earth with your kids! Do it now and they will do it when they are older. And they will be better thinkers and learners for having done it.

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