Martial Arts World News Magazine columnist and AMSkids program developer Grandmaster Tim McCarthy was recently honored to present a TEDx Talk in the David Brinkley Studio at Barry University in Miami, Florida. For those of you who are unfamiliar with TED Talks, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and the short, powerful talks are recorded by the non-profit organization with the goal of sharing the ideas presented. Aside from the annual main event, there are local events called TEDx that are organized and presented all across the globe. The TEDx YouTube site has over 39 million subscribers.
The theme of the Barry University event was “Re-imagining Our Realities: What’s Next?” and speakers presented a range of topics from personal stories of overcoming seemingly unimaginable obstacles to surprising uses of AI to mindfulness. Grandmaster McCarthy spoke on Re-Imagining Parenting in 4 Dimensions based on many of his contributions to the MA Biz Academy and AMSkids programs. For those of you who use those programs, playing this talk or at least offering the link to the talk to prospective parents may add credibility during your sales presentations. The talk has not been posted on the TEDx YouTube channel as of this printing, but keep an eye out for it in the very near future.
The TEDx “idea worth sharing” is that we human beings experience the world in 4 Dimensions: The Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual, and that good parenting should include all four dimensions. This concept should be familiar to martial artists as our classes tend to develop children in all four dimensions. Grandmaster McCarthy explained that each dimension has building blocks and processes, and that children reach certain milestones in development at different ages in each dimension. Parents and teachers need to understand the capabilities and limitations of children at each age in order to effectively reach the child at his or her own level.
In the 12 minute talk he addressed each dimension separately, and gave examples of how children progress at each age. Of course, this presentation presents only the tip of the iceberg of such a vast and important subject, and parents and teachers need much more information to implement it effectively. Fortunately, in his book Raising 4 Dimensional Children in a 2 Dimensional World, Grandmaster McCarthy presents not only the details of the theory but the practical application with over 400 age-appropriate activities to use with the kids. For the martial arts instructor, this book provides a crash course in education and child developmental psychology, so that instructors and even teenage staff members know which drills and activities are appropriate for Tiny Tigers, children’s classes, teen classes, and adult classes. These activities are especially useful for those martial arts schools using an after school program or martial arts summer camp, but many more activities and promotional materials are available in the AMSkids program.
If you have an idea worth sharing and would like to give your own TEDx talk, check out the TEDx Event page for upcoming events in your area and apply to the organizers. We martial artists have a lot of valuable ideas to share and TED is an outstanding platform to share them.
