Hey there, 

Here are 2 awesome activities you can try with your kids for a fun time that won't break the bank. These activities encourage inspiration, imagination, and intellect. 

Plus, they're a ton of fun ;-) 

1.Writing 

Come up with some cool story ideas for your kids, and then let them have at it. You can ask them to write a story about the day they brought a unicorn to school... what they would do if they could fly... or if they had another super power. 

2. Drawing 

What makes a cool story even cooler? Illustrations! You and your child can draw out scenes from their stories, bringing them to life. Or, you can draw your favorite super heroes, TV stars and more. 

Till next time! 

Master Miner

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Thank you Grampa.

these are the rattlings in my head.

Dusty

Bully proof

November is bullyproofing month at Sidekicks.
What are you doing to prevent bullying? Watching on the sidelines, or trying to put a stop to it...Take a stand, dont be a spectator...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJut7KQhI4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j6YA03hm4k

Stuffed

So now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, i can tell you one thing for sure...i got more stuffed than the turkey!! Turkey and all its trimmings is one of my favorite meals, so at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and any other turkey eatin holidays, i eat and eat and eat...pretty sure i put on about 10 lbs in one weekend. :)
However, my ramblings today have nothing to do with turkey, they are more about giving thanks. Each Thanksgiving gives me the time to reflect on just how lucky i am. Every year for thanksgiving we go up to my wife's parents cottage for three or four days and get a chance for a Little down time. The stretch from labour day to Thanksgiving is our busiest time of year and we go non stop during those 5 or 6 weeks. Spend the weekend with our family, some good quality time together and not really think about work. It gives me the chance to reflect on what i am thankful for. I have a wonderful family, loving wife, great staff, awesome friends, i get paid to do what i love, so i am very thankful. I will never take for granted what i have because i know it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye.We spend one weekend a year giving thanks for what we have. Maybe we should be giving thanks on a daily basis? What are you thankful for?

just the ramblings in my head...

Dusty

words of wisdom

Grandmaster Timmerman sent out an email the other day. i asked him if i could repost it. Being at the age he is, being in the martial arts for as long as he has been, he calls it as he sees it. i liked this email, so i asked him if i could repost it. He will be at our school this weekend to put on a seminar.

"I am contacting you all today to share with you some of my personal thoughts about martial arts and what a black belt means to me. With so many new black belts on deck since our Gathering of Grand Masters event, tests, and promotion ceremony, it is as good a time as any to touch on this subject. Perhaps I am wrong, or perhaps I am simply an idealist; but, to me having a black belt around your waist should have more meaning than a simple tool to keep your Dobok tied up or your pants from falling down. To me, having earned a black belt should have much more meaning than that, and I hope it does to you as well. Perhaps you spent most of your time in martial arts in another association or school, and thing were different where you were raised. So, this message is for higher ranking NKMAA members as well.

For many, HONOR is a word that is not quite understood, and honor should be something that is synonymous with a black belt. If it is not, you have missed some of the most important martial art lessons that were (or should have been) given. Simple thing like respecting your parents, elders, the property of others, and the law of the land should now come natural to you, and if it is not yet... strive to MAKE it important to you. In the old days it came natural to respect elders, and we were glad to give up our seat to a lady or to someone older. We would gladly open the door for others, and it made us feel good to see a smile on the face of someone we just treated with such a simple but kind gesture.

Giving your word or making a promise did not require a contract drawn up by someone else... it was sufficient to shake on it, and we could TRUST you to keep it. It was a natural thing for us to check on family or our neighbours to see if they required some help, and we did not have our hand out to accept payment for a kind gesture. It was sufficient to KNOW your neighbour would some day be there for you. Kids did not expect to get paid for doing chores, and they did not whine whenever they had to pitch in. None of us EVER expected the government to bail us out whenever we screwed up, and we most certainly did not expect them to bail out corporations with OUR money. The fact is that CEOs making bad decisions should expect to get FIRED instead of collecting shameful performance bonuses of millions.

How did it ever come to this? Well, it came to this the moment we allowed ourselves to accept money for every little thing we did or did NOT do. Welfare became an acceptable way of earning a living. The government gave us money for having kids we could not afford to have, and our kids threatened us they would leave home or sue us whenever we handed out discipline. In fact, some government agency probably gives them money to offset how badly parents treat their kids. We ALLOWED government agencies to tell us what we could and could not do in terms of dealing with our kids, and our kids soon learned how to "get away" with things they KNEW were wrong.

It is my sincere hope that somewhere along the way of earning a black belt, YOU learned a bit about being a good citizen, friend, neighbour, and family member. I most certainly hope that you have learned that respect is a very valuable thing to give or to get, and I truly like to believe that your word is something we all can count on. If not, perhaps this is a good time to start. To be sure, we can't change the world overnight; BUT, we CAN make sure that we are there whenever family or friends need us. We CAN make sure that when we make a promise, we will follow up whatever stands in the way. IF we do our little part as black belts, it won't be long before people will once again see that black belts ARE special. Gone will be the day when a black belt can be bought or be given to those who have not earned the right to wear it.

In NKMAA, a black belt's WORD should be his or her bond, and a promise is as good as gold. As an NKMAA black belt you WILL see how you can be the best you can be at home, at school, at work, or in our Dojangs. We never browbeat people into doing things they are unable to do; however, we DO expect our Black Belts and their students to TRY hard to support NKMAA events. If you do NOT do your best to support an event YOUR association or "extended NKMAA family" members put on, how much do you think they will support you in your hour of need? Remember what I said about your neighbour being there for you if you helped him... the same holds true for your NKMAA extended family. We are like brothers, and we do our best to be there. Surely we will NEVER give empty promises, as YOUR black belt is nothing more than what YOU make of it."

the ramblings in my Masters head...:)

Dusty

Use the force!!!

I have been teaching the martial arts in one form or another now for over 23 years.
i have seen a lot and dealt with every different scenario possible. Over the years, there has always been one particular "mind set" or phrase that has irked me. it happened again and now i want to rant!!
I could never force my child to >>>insert whatever here<<<<.
I have never understood that. Here is where this comes from.
Over the years i have watched many students quit the martial arts. and i am fine with that. Martial arts is not for everyone. some people quit at white belt, some at yellow, some at blue...and i am ok with that. Its when they quit at black stripe. There are 6 names that pop into my head over the years that have quit at this level. and every parent has given me the exact same response...i dont want to force them...
im sorry, but sometimes, we need to force children to do things. That is called parenting. Children are children and dont always make smart decisions...that is why they are children and it is our job to guide them...When a child is at black stripe, there are a lot of different thoughts going through their head...self doubt, scared, cant do it...every person that is on our black belt wall of fame wanted to quit. i am pretty sure i had the dont quit stay focused talk with every one that is up there. It is natural for a child to want to quit when the going gets tough. what i dont think is right is when the parent lets them. not this close to a huge accomplishemt. To me, it is like running the Boston Marathon and quitting 100 feet from the finish line. Your goal is in sight, you can see it, you can taste it, but you quit anyways...
to get to black stripe, it takes a minimum of 4 years of training, a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and thousands of dollars. It is not an easy road, but the rewards are well worth it. Part of the reward is the overcoming of the challenge to get there.
When a parent allows a child to quit something because it is tough, boring, too easy, whatever reason a self doubting child will give, they are setting a scary precedent. Relationship is not working out? get a divorce? School is tough? quit. Dont like the mundane tasks of my job? quit...children do what they know and the adult they become is based on their experiences as a child.
i know what i am using as an example is extreme, but to me, there isnt much difference. Getting a black belt is a huuuge accomplishment.
and for me, its not about the money, as someone so politely tried to point out to me once...i have put a lot of work into the student and developed a relationship with them. i look at a lot of the children at Sidekicks as my children...and then feel very helpless when that person wants to quit, because i know that at the end of the day, i wont get any say in it.
If your child was to say i dont want to brush my teeth anymore...or eat my broccoli, or go to school or whatever, think about how you react...and then maybe next time you can use the force...
Am i off base? maybe some parents can chime in and let me know their thoughts...

Just the ramblings in my head...

All done pt 2!!

We took a quick break, long enough to refuel and change our clothes, then we went into techniques. Every kick and hand strike in our curriculum, done on both sides of the body, 10 times each. Then came weapons. All weapons patterns done two times. I had a few little memory hiccups, got stuck in an akward position while doing a back roll, but felt good otherwise.
Then came board breaking. I did a 4 board back kick, 3 level, 3 board spinning hook kick, jumping front split kick on two boards and one board jumping double front kick. Everything felt great! Then i got a little cocky and tried a 3 board punch. That one didnt go.
We broke for lunch. The local restaurant up the road catered it. I stuck with my trail mix and carb gellies.
We resumed again two hours later at the Hall. We did a quick warm up before going in to patterns. We were split into two groups. Hard style patterns in one rom (tkd, Tang Soo Do, etc) and soft style forms in the other room (hapkido).
I started at white belt with about 10 other people. I got to about brown belt in hapkido (around 10 patterns, each done in two different directions)before Grandmaster grabbed me and had me switch over to TKD forms in the other room. i did the 13 from 1st degree black belt to 6th degree with only one little problem. One pattern in particular, Moon Moo, gave me some problems. Needed 4 restarts to nail the stoopid thing!
then back to the other room for Ho Shin Sool techniques (self defense) Started at white belt again and went all the way up to 3rd degree black belt. Around 300 techniques in total. Then we were done.We started at 6am, finished around 4pm. Lond day. Felt great about my test. We went out and had a celebration dinner. Mr. Young tested along side me the whole time. He did awesome too!!
Saturday was reserved for the Grandmaster seminars. Everyone that came up to watch our test took part in the seminars. Grandmasters from all over the world. Myself and Mr. Young spent the day in the hotel hot tub rfesting our sore muscles. Saturday night was the belt presentation. I was presented my 6th degree black belt in Taekwon Do, my 3rd degree black belt in Kong Shin Bup Hapkido and my grappling instructors certificate. Mr. Young was presented with his 4th degree black belt in Tkd and his instructors grappling certificate. We were presented in front of a large panel of Grandmasters. There was Grandmaster Michael DeAlba, a 9th degree bb from Southern California, Grandmaster Ken McKenzie, a 9th degree from New Jersey, Grandmaster Rudy Timmerman, Grandmaster Geoff Booth, an 8th degree bb from australia, Grandmaster Jimm McMurray, an 8th degree from Texas, Grandmaster Serge Baubil, a 9th degree bb from Quebec and Chiefmaster Marlin Sims, a 7th degree bb from Geirgia, as well as a room full of Masters and Chief Masters. It was witnessed by many students from Sidekicks who made the journey up to watch.
One last big thing, the whole point of this weekend was to celebrate my instrcutors 70th birthday, 60 year in the martial arts and to put on a huge gathering of martial art talent. Grandmaster Rudy Timmerman also passed down the art of Kong Shin Bup hapkido to my good friend Chief Master Kevin Janisse, an amazing martial artist and someone who lives and breathes what we preach. It was an honour to be a part of it. The table of grandmasters pledged to support Chief Master Janisse and fully support this handing down. This doesnt mean that Gm Timmerman is quitting, it just means that he is preparing CM Janisse for when he finally moves on from the art, either by choice or by his passing.
It was a whirlwind of a weekend! I want to thank everyone that came up to partake and support my Grandmaster, a huge thank you to my wonderful wife for allowing me to disappear for days at a time to train, my partners Cam Hux and Graham Abell, as they allowed me to put a hurt on them numerous times over the past little while, and of course Mr. Young for taking this journey with me. We have been at this a long time my friend...and it aint over yet!!
if there is anyone i missed, thank you...you were all au huge help and your support means everything to me.
pics to follow on facebook.

these are the ramblings in my very sore and tired head...