There will come a time when your child says; “I’m too tired to go to class today.” This is a critical point in a child’s training. This is when you help teach them about follow-through and the never-quit attitude.

Don’t be concerned about “pushing it on your child.” Children wouldn’t go to school, brush their teeth or clean their room if you didn’t “push it on them.” There’s a big difference between helping a child follow through on a goal they agreed to and force-feeding something on a child.

One good strategy taught by the Martial Arts Teachers’ Association is to make sure your child is doing something less interesting to him/her prior to going to martial arts class. For instance, a child doing homework or chores will usually jump at the chance to leave that and go to class. On the other hand, a child playing video games may not want to stop shooting aliens on the screen to go to class.

When you begin the classes, agree with your child on some short-term goals such as green belt or brown belt with the understanding that there will be no quitting until the goal is achieved. The real goal in the training will be black belt, but until you’ve had a chance to really understand what it takes to earn a black belt, it’s best to set a more reachable initial goal. Once you’ve determined that black belt is your goal, commit to it with full enthusiasm.

However, it’s unrealistic to expect a child not to, at some point, rebel against the effort. This is natural and is part of the process of learning. Quitting can quickly become a bad habit. Facing these types of challenges is part of the training inherent in the martial arts.

John Graden is the author of "How To Open and Operate a Successful Martial Arts School" and creator of The Martial Arts Teachers' Association located at www.MartialArtsTeachers.com, the web's largest online resource for martial arts instructors and school owners.