09/04/2026
Your child is doing something you may have never done.
They’re walking into a room where they don’t know everything.
They’re getting physically exhausted.
They’re being corrected.
They’re losing.
They’re getting frustrated.
They’re learning to stay calm when they’re uncomfortable.
And then they’re coming back next week to do it all over again.
That’s BJJ.
And sometimes, as parents, we don’t realize just how difficult that is because we’re watching from the outside.
It’s easy to say:
“Just keep going.”
“Don’t quit.”
“Why are you upset?”
But our kids don’t need us to make hard things easier.
They need us to teach them how to handle hard things.
That means listening when they’re frustrated without immediately rescuing them.
It means not letting one bad class turn into quitting.
It means helping them understand that losing doesn’t mean they’re bad at something.
It means celebrating effort, courage, improvement and the decision to come back.
And here’s the part I think parents need to hear:
Maybe we need to do hard things too.
Put yourself in a situation where you’re a beginner.
Try something you’re terrible at.
Let yourself be uncomfortable.
Let yourself get corrected.
Let yourself lose.
Let your child see you struggle and keep going.
Because it’s hard to convince our kids that discomfort is something to embrace when we’ve spent our entire lives trying to avoid it ourselves.
Your child doesn’t need you to become a BJJ expert.
They need you to become their biggest believer.
And maybe, sometimes, their example.
Don’t just watch your kid do hard things.
Learn how to do hard things with them.
