12/09/2024
7 lessons I want my kids to take away from the hit NetFlix show Cobra Kai.
We just finished binge watching Cobra Kai as a family and, as someone who’s always looking for creative ways to teach my kids, I found myself wanting my kids to take some underlying lessons away from the show within all the drama, subterfuge, and yes, unexpected salacious content. (There's your warning)
Yes, my kids are my true passion, which is literally why Kids Coach Kids exists.
Nevertheless, here are the 7 lessons I want my own kids to take away from the show.
1. Hurt people, hurt people. Happy people help people.
People who hurt other people are, themselves, likely hurting--either emotionally or physically. For instance, Robbie Keen, Cobra Kai's best fighter, in my opinion, was living in a world of hurt because his father basically abandoned him when he was born and his mother wasn't exactly up to the task of being a mother. So, he robbed and hurt other people as an expression of his inner pain. On the other hand, as he became happier he started to help other people.
2. How you start isn’t always how you’ll finish
As Robbie started to grow, he forgave his dad, Sensei Johnny Lawrence, and began accepting love from other people he had previously shut out. He became happier and became a strong leader and positive role model for another character, Kenny, who had previously been bullied which eventually turned HIM into a bully. But Robbie helped him find his way back eventually.
3. Stay focused.
Robbie never lost the courage of his convictions, but he did lose focus for a while because of his girlfriend, which cost him several matches he should have won. The road to success will have many unexpected potholes, but you have to remain focused to achieve your goals.
4. Bad moments don't define you.
Robbie was sent to juvenile detention for partially paralyzing one of the other kids in a school fight. As Robbie evolved, he started helping another character avoid a similar fate. And he also became close friends with the kid he paralyzed. Spoiler alert: The kid started walking again. (A little much? Perhaps, but you get the point, right?)
5. Winning or losing isn’t a matter of life and death, but always play you hearts out.
Robbie became my favorite character by the end, for many reasons, but all the top fighters had one thing in common; They became elite because they left it all out on the mat--win, lose or draw.
6. Choose your pain. The pain of discipline or the pain of losing.
Training hard every day and staying disciplined to the process of improving can be heartbreaking and painful. The pain of losing to Daniel LaRusso stayed with Johnny Lawrence (Robbie's once estranged dad) for over 30 years and he's never gotten over it. He let it define him. "Daniel-san", on the other hand, followed the painstaking process prescribed by the late-great Mr. Miyagi, of "waxing-on and waxing-off", painting fences, sanding decks, and balancing on posts in the ocean for countless days and hours, for his one shining moment 30 years ago. He chose his pain and Johnny chose his pain. Of course, you can still lose even if you choose the pain of discipline, but you'll always know whether or not you chose to give it your best.
7. Be coachable, have a plan, but be ready to adapt.
By the "end" (still one more episode to be released, however) the two sensei's, Daniel and Johnny, came together to teach two drastically different styles to their students of their respective dojos. Strike first or defend and counter strike? For most of their collaboration their styles were a source of contention, not only between them, but between their students as well. It wasn't until they decided to integrate both styles and their students were allowed to freely adapt to what was best for them individually, did they start to defeat their opponents consistently. My kids will have many different coaches in their lives. I want them to be coachable, but always ready to adapt as they change teams, etc.
Has anyone else seen Cobra Kai? Any lessons you want your kids to learn from it?
