Meet Thomas
Would you believe it if I told you a secret, that I had no idea this was going to be a parenting program? It wasn't until I met Bonnie, who put two and two together and ran with it, which brings us here today.
A little bit about my story. I was 16 years old in my senior year. I had played baseball for about eight years, and I had two younger brothers, Matt and Jared, now playing little league.
My mom told me the kids are trying out for baseball and there are no coaches available. "Why is that, Mom?"
"Well, the kids were acting in such a way that none of the dads wanted to volunteer to run this little motley crew of kids."
I said, “What a great opportunity. I'll do it.” That's when I had a chance to realize that there was a way to guide kids versus adults telling them what to do.
I'd listen to what the kids wanted to learn about baseball and guide them toward their goals. I had a tremendous season of letting the kids learn the fundamentals and do something their way. I got into martial arts and earned my black belt. In 1994 I found myself in a position of being asked to coach white belts and train them.
I reflected back on my baseball years, and I was like, "You know what? I'm going to teach my students the opposite of anything and everything negative moving forward," having no clue what that looked like but doing it in faith regardless.
And by doing that, my after-school martial art program made it into the Hall of Fame for the most creative after-school program in 2004. What an honor.
We did something different that most martial arts schools don't do. We focused on the ancient teachings of missing life skills and personal development. By doing so we were the very first martial art school to become a licensed daycare centre to fill my community's needs.
Young children were being kicked out of daycares for misbehaving and had nowhere to go because they were on a state subsidy. I went to the state and applied to be a licensed daycare so kids could come to me.
I wasn't even aware that kids were being medicated for behavior disorders. We put these kids into our system and found what life skills they were missing. We trained them on those.
We had Ninja Night sleepovers, where we would have a theme. We would all go downtown in Seattle to a Mariner Ninja Night. Could you imagine a busload of kids walking through downtown Seattle where they're all walking in twos, side by side, hands by their sides, all walking with focus and self-control, being responsible, with only one or two moms chaperoning with me? We could go there, come back, and everybody was happy.
We even went to the Museum of Flight and had a sleepover. We would go downtown in Seattle, in the Seattle Center area, to a giant carnival. The kids had goals, took action, and could puzzle-solve rather than have problems and need somebody to rescue them.
This happened so many times. We received a letter from the mall: " Wow, your kids behaved so much that we would love to have them return. Our security was a little worried seeing all these little ninjas show up thinking, oh, this doesn't look good.”
You see, these realities, these ideas, these dreams that you have as a mom can come true. Your children have yet to step into their power!
Thomas Liotta — Philosopher CCFL
NEITHER BONNIE OR THOMAS LIOTTA, NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CREATING CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION, HAS, IS OR WILL PRACTICE MEDICINE WITH OR DIAGNOSE CLIENTS OR THEIR CHILDREN. THEY WILL NOT PRESCRIBE MEDICINES OR ANY MEDICAL TREATMENT WHATSOEVER. THEY WILL NOT ADJUST EXISTING MEDICATIONS OR TREATMENTS. BONNIE AND THOMAS LIOTTA AND THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CREATING CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION LIMIT THEIR SERVICES STRICTLY TO GUIDING CLIENTS THROUGH PARENTING STRATEGIES BASED ON TIME-TESTED PRINCIPLES AND ARE PROTECTED BY THE CREATING CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE MINISTRY. ALL MEDICAL DECISIONS, TREATMENTS AND PRESCRIPTIONS ARE LEFT ENTIRELY UP TO THE CLIENT'S PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN.
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