Steve
Mostly Harmless
You know, I've thought about this at times, mostly when suburban salesmen talk about the 'real' dangers lurking around every corner and cultivating an understanding of "real world" violence. Is that actually doing weird things to that person's psyche? And does imparting a real fear of "life or death" situations where someone may need to kill or be killed actually make the person less well adjusted and more prone to falling for weird conspiracies (like Q and the NRA stuff here in the States). It seems to me like it's promoting what resembles an unreasonable fear of something that is highly unlikely to ever occur... like people who are afraid to swim at the beach because they're worried about being attacked by a shark.yeah but some still don´t have a mind set to go the whole way.
a life or death situation is not like a dojo session.
So, when you mentioned this about kids, it really struck a chord. Does teaching kids about life or death situations do more for the kid or TO the kid? I mean, there are some kids who live in some pretty dangerous areas. But is the average kid dealing with life and death? And for kids who have run of the mill issues, would sincerely imparting a sense of potential danger lurking around corners where you may need to fight in a kill or be killed scenario be helpful? Maybe more to the point of this thread, is that the same or even related to promoting in them a sense of self confidence and assertiveness?
And on a different note, I think the actual activity kids do is way less important than how they are being coached in the activity. A kid on the chess team with a good coach is going to get just as much positive mental and emotional development as a kid on the wrestling team with a good coach. If we're talking about assertiveness, optimism, resilience, and a host of other positive traits, getting the kid into an activity that builds some kind of actual skill, that they love doing, and with a coach/mentor who has the right skillset makes all the difference. The key is the coach and the building of some real skill. So, if they're taking TKD to compete in TKD, great. If they're taking TKD to manage 'life or death' situations... I think they are headed the wrong direction. Not just for the reasons I outlined earlier, but also because I don't think they're actually learning those skills.