TLDR: Allow your kids to fail. Let them learn from it. They will grow more than you think.

This post, if anyone ever reads it, will likely cause some trouble. If you are a person who believes that combat sports are a symbol of the patriarchy and or a display of toxic masculinity then avert your gaze now.

//Strongly worded message to follow//

We live in an age, in America at least, where being a man is not what it used to be.

I grew up in the age where the WWE meant something different then it does today. (hint: it had nothing to do with wildlife) Where professional wrestling was something to be celebrated, and watched on Saturday mornings along side of cartoons such as HE-MAN, Ghostbusters (both real and unreal), Thunder Cats, Transformers, GI JOE, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

So what do these shows have in common? They don’t shy away from physical violence. At the same time they didn’t glorify it either. Violence was portrayed as something done for defensive reasons. There was almost an air of responsibility attached to it. The heroes of these shows didn’t beat the bad guys down on a whim, they did it to defend themselves, their loved ones, or their cause. And guess what, some of these shows had a special segment at the end, where they went out of their way to express some moral lesson.

Was there a real life moral? what was the understanding gained from such “barbaric” activities?

Experiencing emotion fueled, dangerous, situations, with life changing consequences leads to more resilient people. How can it not. This in my  in-educated opinion is critical to a young person’s development.  If a person doesn’t get inoculated to stress at a “young” age they will not be able to handle it when they reach adult hood.

Allow your kids to fail. Let them learn from it. They will grow more than you think.