Instructors of children martial arts classes have a tough task. Whenever you are dealing with children you have to be aware of not only what you are saying but what you are not saying. Kids are very perceptive with nonverbal communication. At a young age a child’s mind is not develop to comprehend words. Communicate is achieved by nonverbal cues, tone, and gestures. As the saying goes “actions speaks louder than words” and here are several nonverbal actions that people do that can perceived in a positive or negative way. That’s why instructors of childrens martial arts classes have to be aware of their facial expression at all times. Kids are really good about reading people’s body language. Being able to comprehend body language is a great skill to have.
We search someone’s face to determine feelings of anger, sadness, or disgust. Nonverbal messages tend to be more reliable than verbal messages and are essential to understanding many of the most important things others are trying to communicate to us. There are simple gestures that we do with our body’s that can be perceived a certain way depending on the situation.
The nonverbal gestures you can do with your head are moving it in a yes or no motioning, tilting it to one side, and tossing it back. The nonverbal gestures you can do with your face are smiling, frowning, arching your eyebrows, etc. For the eyes the nonverbal cues would be squinting, wide open, closed, winking, blinking, rolling, teary. The nonverbal gestures you can do with your mouth is bite your lips, smile, lick your lips, etc. For the skin the nonverbal cues would be blushing, paleness, perspiration, and rashes. For body posture the nonverbal cues are relaxed, rigid, stooped shoulders, leaning forward, leaning backward, chest extended out. The nonverbal cues for hands and arms are fidgeting, tapping, laced fingers, fisted, pointing, touching, and crossed arms. The nonverbal cues for feet and legs are foot tapping, legs crossed, legs open, and knee knocking.
You have to pay attention to your nonverbal cues when you are around children. Maryland martial arts schools figured out that if your cues are negative they will react negatively toward you. If your cues are more positive they will be more receptive to what you ask of them.
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