NextGenKent

Ok, so I am a concerned parent. I do my job and at times put in some OT. I'd like to think I am balanced but mostly that is done just a front...but I do love my kids. Every now and then I get some +feedback on them. I'd like to think there is more out there. This time it came during the trip home from football practice (I volunteered to do it this time) and from one of the boys who tagged along. It made me smile. I never met this boy before and only heard bits and pieces about him prior (again, part of my job as a dad I do so well). As the 2 boys were discussing the upcoming season, positions, and one another, our guest starts 'bragging' on Josh. He said things I would probably never say, not because I don't believe them, but because I don't see this side of Josh. Now, I knew Josh came home from practice tired and hungry (two jobs HE does very well at age 15) and was lifting weights and I probably thought in my head, "Yes, what did you expe

We Need More Christian Sparring. Does that sound a bit odd? Let me explain. There are two things in my son's two years of Tae Kwon Do I have continued to reflect upon: training by the level and sparring. My son has been in Tae Kwon Do for the past two years and has really enjoyed it and our Christian instructors. He has come up to his fifth gup and is now a green belt. As a youth pastor and educator, one of the things that made me smile was how the higher level kids were being asked to train the lower ones--and it's not so much an age thing. A girl my daughter's age (then 11) was asked to train my son (then, 7) and she did a fantastic job. I have always heard the adage: "The best way for you to know something is to teach it" (for me, it was Greek) and she really knew her stuff! The second thing that has continued to impress me just as much has been the sparring. It is absolutely necessary. It isn't enough to have kids stand in to throw a slow motion punch