BRAVERY CAN COME IN ANY SIZE

There are some kids who think you have to be as tall as a mountain to be BRAVE. But what about kids who are as small as a mouse? Does that mean they can't be BRAVE because of their size? 

Read the story of the lion and the mouse below, then decide what size BRAVERY comes in...

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The Lion and the Mouse

A small mouse crept up to a sleeping lion. The mouse admired the lion's ears, his long  whiskers and his great mane.

"Since he's sleeping," thought the mouse, "he'll never suspect I'm here!"  

With that, the little mouse climbed up onto the lion's tail, ran across its back, slid down its leg and jumped off of its paw. The lion awoke and quickly caught the mouse between its claws.

"Please," said the mouse, "let me go and I'll come back and help you
 someday."

The lion laughed, "You are so small! How could ever help me?"

The lion laughed so hard he had to hold his belly! The mouse jumped to freedom and ran until she was far, far away.

The next day, two hunters came to the jungle. They went to the lion's lair. They set a huge rope snare. When the lion came home that night, he stepped into the trap.

He roared! He wept! But he couldn't pull himself free.

The mouse heard the lion's pitiful roar and came back to help him.

The mouse eyed the trap and noticed the one thick rope that held it together. She began nibbling and nibbling until the rope broke. The lion was able to shake  off the other ropes that held him tight. He stood up free again!

The lion turned to the mouse and said, "Dear friend, I was foolish to ridicule you for being small. You helped me by saving my life after all!" 

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Like the mouse in this story, it doesn't matter how big or how small you are when it comes to being able to help others. All that matters is that you help...

(sponsored by SOUTH KNOXVILLE TAEKWONDO)

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WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR BEING RESPONSIBLE?

 (wikimedia commons)

If you get angry with your little sister because she wants to play with one of your toys and you push her away, causing her to bump into a table and break a flower vase, who is responsible for the damage? Is is your little sister because she bumped into the table? Or is it you because you lost control and pushed her out of anger?

Sometimes taking responsibility for your actions can be hard. Nobody wants to get in trouble, but is it fair to blame others for what YOU started by choosing the wrong behavior to resolve an issue?

Check out this story about Lemon...a clown that doesn't think there will be any consequences for choosing to not take care of his things. It's all about...

RESPONSIBILITY

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THE CARELESS CLOWN

Once there was a clown named Lemon. 

He was a lot of fun, but also very careless. Whenever he did anything, he almost always ended up tearing his jacket, getting a hole in his sock, or ripping the knee of his trousers. Everyone said he should take more care of his things, but Lemon though that would be really boring.

Soon, the most important day in Lemon's life arrived. 

Everyone in town prepared a party for him, in celebration of Lemon's many years of service in making the citizens chuckle. On that day he wouldn't have to wear his colorful clown suit. He would be able to dress like anyone else, and everyone was sure to comment on how nice he looked in his suit.

However, the night before, he looked in his closet, and found there wasn't a single suit in good condition. They were all ripped and torn, Lemon couldn't possibly go to the party dressed in those. All that was fit for him to wear was his clown clothes. 

On the day of the party Lemon arrived, dressed like a clown, and everyone laughed as they always had, but Lemon was not happy. He had dreamed of being, just for one day in the year, the hero of the show, and not just the clown. Oh, how he wished he had listened to his friends and taken better care of his things!

 

Very early the next day, Lemon decided to start taking better care of his suits. Eagerly he replaces all the torn, worn-out clothes with clean, new ones. Soon all the people of the village was complimenting Lemon on how well he looked dressed in his new clothes. And that made Lemon very happy because now, he was more than just a clown in everyone's eyes.

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Take a moment to think about your chores at home. Are you in charge of keeping your room clean? Do your parents expect you to help out around the house and look after the family pet?

How about at school? How does the teacher know if you understand the lessons if you don't turn in your homework? And do you walk quietly in a straight line to the cafeteria or do you race down the hall like a wild animal?

Choosing to behave in a certain way and remembering to take good care of your things are great examples to show the people around you that you know what the word RESPONSIBILITY means. And doesn't it make you feel proud inside when you know others are proud of you as well?

  sponsored by the KICKS Kids Club

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HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY...

What would you do if your best friend asked you to lie for him to prevent him from getting in trouble with the teacher?

Would you lie or would you be honest?

It can be hard telling the truth all the time, especially when you made a bad choice and don't want others to find out what you've done. Here's a story about someone who could have lied and no one would have known the difference. But something inside him wouldn't let him do anything but follow a path of...

HONESTY 


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THE HONEST WOOD CUTTER


A poor woodcutter accidentally dropped his axe into the river. He was very upset, as he had no money to buy another axe. Just then a fairy appeared in the river holding out a golden axe to him. "I found this axe in the river. Is this yours?"

"That's not mine", replied the woodcutter.

The fairy then brought out a silver axe. 

"Is this axe yours?" asked the fairy.

"No," said the woodcutter.

Finally, the fairy held out a wooden axe. "Is this axe yours?" she asked.

Smiling with happiness, the woodcutter said, "That's mine. Thank you very much."

The fairy was pleased to see he didn't lie and said, "Such honesty deserves a reward." She gave the poor man all the three axes and disappeared back into the water.

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We have a chance to be honest every day...

While taking a spelling test.

Telling a neighbor you're the one who broke their window.

Eating ALL of your vegetables like your parents ask you to do.

What ways can YOU think of to be honest? Share with us in the comments below...

  sponsored by the KICKS Kids Club

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www.Twitter.com/TKDSouthKnox

ANYONE CAN BE A HERO...

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Everyone can be a hero to someone else. You don't have to wear a cape or have magical powers. All you have to have is one thing...

COURAGE

The dictionary says courage means, "being able to do something despite being frightened."  That can sometimes be a hard thing to do, but not for these six kids. They didn't wake up one morning and decide they were going to be a hero. But by the end of the day, they all decided to step up and became a hero in someone else's eyes!

MARCOS UGARTE, age 14

When a neighbor's house caught fire one day, Marcos decided to help out in any way he could. Climbing a ladder held by his father, Marcus crawled in a second floor window and rescued 8-year-old Cody Ma, who was trapped inside. 

ANAIAH RUCKER, age 9

Anaiah and her 5-year-old sister was walking to the bus stop one morning when she noticed a truck was about to hit her sister. Pulling her out of harm's way, Anaiah was hit instead and spent the next few months in the hospital, recovering from her injuries. If not for her bravery in doing the right thing, her little sister might have been killed.

RILEY BRADEN, age 5

Riley was swimming in a hotel pool when she noticed a toddler fall into the water. Not seeing any lifeguard on duty and other grownups too far away to hear her calls, Riley dove to the bottom of the pool and rescued the child. She was given an award for her quick thinking and bravery.

KYLE FORBES, age 10

Kyle, a Boy Scout, was alone in a classroom with his teacher when she began to choke on an apple. Even though he was autistic, Kyle had been taught how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver by both the Scouts and his father. Realizing his teacher was in danger, he performed the technique and saved his teacher's life.

CALEB TAYLOR, age 5

Caleb was sleeping in the back of his mother's car when he woke up and noticed his mother was having a seizure. Instead of panicking, he calmly unbuckled, climbed into the front seat and steered the car to safety before finding someone to call 911.

JOHAVEN GONZALES, age 8

Johaven was traveling with his family when their car went off the road and down a steep mountain cliff. He calmly called 911 before climbing back up the 100 foot cliff to direct people to the crash site. If not for his quick thinking, first responders might not have been able to locate his family until it was too late.

Courage can be seen in a lot of different ways...

Choosing not to cheat on a test.

Standing up to a bully.

Saying no to a friend daring you to take something that doesn't belong to you.

Heroes can be found all around us. You can even find one by just looking in the mirror! 

 

 (By Jurii - wikimedia commons)

  sponsored by the KICKS Kids Club

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APRIL'S A TO Z CHALLENGE!

The intention of this blog is to become a collective resource tool for parents who want to provide a strong foundation of information while raising their children. But we also want to provide some fun and entertainment along the way, and what better way to connect with kids than talking about something most kids love, like animals?

If you don't know what the A to Z Challenge is, just check out their website at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com. Bloggers from all around the world commit to blogging a daily post, except Sundays, throughout the month of April. So far this year's challenge has over 1600 bloggers signed up! Everything from art to zoology and everything in between will be covered as the world comes together to meet this blogging challenge!

This year our own KICKS Kids Club blog will participate. Starting with the letter A and going through Z, kids will get to learn a little bit about some of the lesser known animals that live in the deep blue sea. And we even discovered some actual animals whose names begin with the letters X & Z!

Mark your calendar for April 1st and come back to check out what creepy crawly and slippery slidey creatures lurk beneath the waters out there...







YOU ONLY HAVE ONE!

An original starting date for your blog that is. And for the KICKS Kids Club blog, today is the day when we roll out the carpet for all our future readers.

No one ever said it would be easy.

In fact it will be a challenge to educate everyone on just what we are all about. You see, KICKS Kids Club will be a blog to help educate parents, teachers, and other adults about topics like bully prevention, reinforcing character development skills like confidence, integrity, leadership, community service, social graces, and more. It's actually all wove into our very name:

KICKS

 

K--Karate
I--Integrity
C--Confidence
K--Kindness
S--Service to others

Kids Club

You can find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KICKSkidsclub or

on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TKDSouthKnox

or even on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/KICKSkidsclub.

We will be rolling out lots of information over the next few weeks as we share with the world our school's mission:

KICKS Kids Club provides a proven age appropriate self-defense and character development curriculum empowering kids with KICKS in order to grow up into strong community leaders.

Whether you visit our school in Knoxville or visit us on the web, we welcome you to our TKD family and hope you find our upcoming posts useful!

(www.knoxvilletkd.com)