"Skipping is a metaphor"
I’ve always been one for “girl power” and “women’s rights” and continuously advocating that I can lift as much as a man and can do anything a man can do. However, hearing our wonderful guest speaker, Brent Purnell [a.k.a. The Skipping Guy], speak at Tuesday’s meeting made me rethink my preconceived notions about boys.
To clarify, it is not “skipping” … it is “jump rope training”. The word “skipping” seems to indicate that it is a girls pastime rather than a unisex activity. Brent shared with us that too many boys today are disengaged, disconnected, lack drive and have developed learned helplessness. What does this all mean? There is a trend to become excessively involved in the virtual world which disconnects us, specifically boys, from the real world and actually shrinks the motivation centre in the brain [literally shrinks the amygdala].
· One third of men 22-24 years old still live at home with their parents and they think that is okay.
· University enrolment in the last 50 years has transformed from 30% female to 60% - dropping male enrollment from 70% to 40%!
· Workforce participation for women grew from 30% to 57%; whereas, for men, it has declined from 81% to 76%.
The shifts and changes in society must be addressed. This is not to say that women’s involvement is a bad thing, it just means we need to now focus some energy on our boys … especially starting at a young age.
Too often in early academics, the “sit still and be quiet” may actually decrease a boy’s engagement in education. Therefore our system has somewhat contributed to the disengagement. Along the same path, “learned helplessness*” and “learned carelessness**” perpetuates the problem. So how does “jump rope training” fit with this?
Trust me when I say that Brent can really show us all a thing or two about jumping rope. The speed and accuracy needed to do what he did at the club is astounding. When in doubt, simply search “the Skipping Guy” on YouTube to see for yourself! Brent said that skipping rope is simply a metaphor. The goal in his teaching is to help promote learned industriousness, which means that we do something because something will work eventually.
It is the step-by-step, incremental jump rope teaching, that helps. Instead of just telling his students to jump, Brent teaches you to jump once, then try jumping twice in a row, followed by three times in a row and then a little faster. These are the little successes, which combats the learned helplessness and builds confidence.
We need positive, engagement from men for our boys. Things you can do:· Volunteer, donate to Scouts Canada, Boys & Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters, or Uncle and Aunts at Large;
· Lure a man out of his “man cave” to get involved in something real that involves mentoring;
· Encourage a dad to “come home” and be involved with his boys; and/or
· Put your boy(s) in something success oriented, such as, baseball, football, Junior Achievement, Scouting, chess, the debate club, karate or judo;
*Learned Helplessness: I’m not going to do anything because nothing has worked in the past.
**Learned Carelessness: “I don’t care” and minimal effort is socially safer than trying and failing.