My partner and I are child psychologists and enrolled our oldest child in Mastery Martial Arts in September. We had been looking for the right martial arts program not only to grow physical skills but to give our child a chance to practice self-regulation, confidence, and courage to step outside of their comfort zone. We could not be happier with the experience at Mastery so far. The structure and content of the Mastery classes are truly developmentally informed and use principles of behaviorism to grow skills and build motivation: Each half-hour class is game-based, holding kids' attention while expanding their physical and psychological skill set. In each class, kids have a chance to earn yellow stripes (based on caregivers' reports of how they're progressing with goals at home, such as first-time listening or honesty) and black stripes (based on skills practice in class). Across each multi-week unit, kids practice a distinct set of martial arts moves and social-emotional skills (such as discipline, balance, listening, and self-esteem) before assessing and celebrating what they've learned in a belt test and graduation ceremony. In this way, kids have a chance to celebrate small accomplishments between their belt tests and bigger ones at each graduation ceremony. This builds both motivation and accountability. Throughout, kids practice executive function skills such as inhibitory control (stopping an automatic response and doing something else instead!), focusing and sustaining attention, and listening to and comprehending instructions. These skills are necessary to all kinds of social, academic, and physical tasks, and each week I hear caregivers reporting on how they see them showing up in their kids' behavior at home and at school. In closing, one piece of unsolicited advice for caregivers: Give your child time as they get started. As with any behavior change, it may take weeks or even a couple of months to see improvement; but I encourage you to trust in these instructors--and in your child. As ours got started, my partner and I had to hold ourselves back from jumping in to try to get our child to participate. We even briefly considered pulling them out. Instead, we did our best to trust in these instructors' expertise and in our child's courage, and I'm so glad we did. I doubt we're the only parents who have witnessed our child's bravery, self-esteem, and self-regulation blossom since starting martial arts with Mr. Pezzillo and Mr. Martinez. As a parent, this has been such a joy. And perhaps the best part? My kid is excited to put on that uniform and head to class every time.-