Dos and Don’ts to Help Support Your Child’s Ninja Experience:
Here’s some tips on how to positively support your child’s ninja experience!
Dos:
Encourage your child to set goals: Help your child set realistic and achievable goals in addition to breaking it down into steps that will help them achieve that goal. Encourage them to work hard and celebrate their accomplishments when they achieve their goals.
Provide a safe and supportive environment: Ensure that your child's training environment is safe and supportive. Encourage your child to take risks and remind them that it's okay to make mistakes. Learning from mistakes is a hard but important lesson. Provide positive feedback and constructive criticism to help them improve.
Help your child build mental toughness: Ninja training requires mental toughness and resilience. Encourage your child to stay focused, push through obstacles, and keep a positive mindset. Teach them to visualize success and overcome self-doubt.
Teach how to learn from failure: It is okay to step back and let your child learn through trial and error and failure. Know that it’s okay for them to struggle while working towards a new skill or goal, and remind them to keep trying until they succeed. Help them find the lessons that can be learned from failure.
Don’ts:
Don't push too hard: While it's important to encourage your child to work hard, don't push them too hard. Overtraining or pushing them beyond their limits can lead to burnout, injury, and mental exhaustion. It's important to find a balance between challenging them and giving them the space to rest and recover.
Don't compare your child to others: Every child has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Avoid comparing your child to other ninjas or athletes and instead focus on their individual progress and accomplishments. This will help them build confidence and self-esteem.
Don't make it all about winning: Winning is important and fun, but it's not everything. Instead, emphasize the importance of effort, hard work, and improvement. Learning how to handle yourself after a loss is equally as important as winning. Help your child stay positive after a loss and how to turn it into motivation to keep moving forward and progressing. Encourage them to keep striving towards their goals.