In the field of sport and exercise psychology, there are a number of principles and applications which are very relevant to and translate quite easily into martial arts. In coming months, I hope to provide information on some of these principles and how they can enhance training. As the name implies, sport and exercise psychology deals with the mental aspects of physical endeavor such motivation, anxiety control, aggression, attention, and personality and how all of these issues affect physical performance. In this month's offering, I'll be looking at what psychologists have cited as factors that parents should be mindful of in motivating children in physical activities. Parents, because they are the most prominent role models in their children's lives, have considerable influence on a child's development of achievement motivation.
Achievement motivation is defined as the desire to achieve and succeed.
Parents should promote independence and reinforce a child's efforts becoming independent. Parents should be warm and encouraging to their children. Parents should comfort and support their children when setbacks, fear, and discouragement occur. Parents should expect their children to be able, competent, and responsible and set such an example for them to follow. Parents should allow for and expect many trials for a child to master a task.