SEL
Why Positive Black Male Role Models in Kids' Media Matter — and Why I Show Up
A personal story from Mr. J — certified PE teacher, youth wrestling coach, and children's fitness mentor — on representation, movement, SEL, and the power of kids seeing someone who believes in them on screen.
Mr. J on the field in his West Orange PE staff polo, mid-conversation during a school PE class
I didn't set out to be "a Black creator for kids." I set out to be a teacher. To coach. To show up for kids the way the best adults in my life showed up for me. The representation piece — the part where a kid sees someone who looks like them on screen, leading with energy and care — that part snuck up on me. And once I saw what it meant to families, I couldn't unsee it.
I'm Mr. J. I'm a certified Health & Physical Education teacher, a former youth wrestling coach, a longtime children's fitness instructor, and the guy in the orange headband on Hey! It's Mr. J. This is the story of how I got here, and why I think representation in kids' media is worth showing up for, every single day.
Before there was a YouTube channel
Long before there was a camera, there were kids. Lots of kids.
I started coaching youth wrestling at 18. That meant standing in front of rooms full of nervous, restless, hopeful kids — and trying to be the steady adult in the room. Wrestling teaches a kid more than takedowns. It teaches them how to lose, how to get back up, how to handle a body that's growing faster than their confidence can keep up with.
From there, I spent years at a children's fitness center working with kids ages 6 months to 13. Movement classes. Gymnastics. Birthday parties. Camp days. Toddlers learning to balance. School-age kids working through frustration when something didn't click on the first try. Whole age range, whole emotional range, every single day.
Young Mr. J in his My Gym instructor shirt, sitting in a circle with a class of preschoolers on the gym floor
Every one of those rooms taught me the same lesson: kids show up bigger than they think they can when an adult genuinely believes in them. That's not a slogan — that's a thing I watched happen, hundreds of times, in real life.
Why representation matters in kids' content
When kids consume content — and let's be honest, they consume a lot of it — they're not just being entertained. They're learning what's normal. Who leads. Who teaches. Who cares. Who's celebrated. Who looks like them.
For a long stretch in kids' media, the energetic teacher on screen, the goofy mentor, the warm coach — those roles weren't always cast with kids of color in mind. That's slowly changing, and it's a change worth being part of.
Many kids — especially Black boys — benefit deeply from seeing positive, energetic, caring Black male educators leading content made just for them. Not as a token. Not as a side character. As *the guy*. The teacher. The coach. The one with the headband, the songs, the brain breaks, and the steady belief that they're capable of more than they think.
When a parent emails me to say their son lights up because "Mr. J looks like me" — that's the part of this work that hits hardest. That's the part I take most seriously.
Mr. J lying on the floor with kids in a fitness center class, smiling face-up surrounded by laughing students
Why movement is the doorway
Representation matters most when it's wrapped around something real. For me, that something is movement.
Movement is the fastest way I know to build a kid's confidence. A child who learns to land a jump, hold a balance, dance through a song, or push through a hard set figures out — in their body, not just in their head — that they can do things that scared them a minute ago. That confidence carries. It shows up in the classroom, in friendships, in how they handle a hard moment at home.
Movement also unlocks focus, regulates emotions, and makes the SEL conversations land deeper. A kid who's just jumped and laughed and breathed for three minutes is a kid who can hear a message about kindness, or trying again, or being enough.
Why social emotional learning is the heart of it
Movement is the doorway. SEL is the room.
Every brain break I make is built around something more than a workout. The songs are about confidence ("I am me, I am enough"), about resilience ("try again"), about handling big feelings ("pause and breathe"), about kindness, about manners, about healthy habits. Because a kid will dance for two minutes — but the words they sing are the words that stay.
I Am Me — Confidence Song for Kids
If a child watches enough of these moments across a childhood, the messages start to settle in:
- I am capable.
- My feelings make sense.
- I can keep going when something is hard.
- People who look like me lead, teach, and care.
Those are the messages I needed at that age. They're the messages every kid deserves at that age.
Building Hey! It's Mr. J
Hey! It's Mr. J grew out of all of it — the wrestling room, the fitness center floor, the PE field, the school assemblies, the birthday parties where I was the loudest adult in the room because I knew the kids needed someone to match their energy.
Mr. J in his blue tank top and orange headband, mid-jump with arms wide and full of energy — a behind-the-scenes shot from a kids movement video shoot
Every video I make is built on the same simple goal: help kids live healthy and happy lives. That means:
- Movement — get bodies up, off the couch, breathing and laughing
- SEL — songs and stories about confidence, big feelings, kindness, and resilience
- Healthy habits — water, food, sleep, manners
- Brain breaks — short, classroom-ready resets that teachers can press play on without prep
- Representation — a real, energetic Black male educator leading the content kids actually want to watch
It's made for homes, classrooms, daycares, therapists' offices, after-school programs, and anywhere a kid needs a five-minute reset led by someone who's clearly rooting for them.
For the parents and teachers reading this
If you're a parent or a teacher who's been intentional about *who* shows up on the screens in front of your kids — thank you. That work matters. The channels you choose, the creators you trust, the role models you put in front of children quietly shape who they think they can become.
If you're new here and looking for content that's:
- Movement-based and energetic
- Built around social emotional learning
- Led by a real, certified PE teacher
- Safe, uplifting, and classroom-friendly
- A positive Black male role model on screen
...you're in the right place.
Hey! It's Mr. J — official channel logo featuring Mr. J waving in his blue tank top and orange headband
A closing note
I think a lot about the kid who's going to find one of my videos at the right moment — on a hard morning, after a tough day at school, during a long indoor recess, in the middle of a big feeling they don't have words for yet. I don't know that kid. I'll probably never meet them. But I know they're out there.
If, in five minutes, they get up off the couch, laugh, breathe, sing a line about being enough, and walk away a little lighter — that's the whole job. That's what I'm doing this for.
Keep going
Watch more of Mr. J's brain breaks, SEL songs, and movement videos on the Videos page. Read more parent and teacher resources on the Blog, learn more about my background on the About page, or look into bringing Mr. J's energy and message into your school in person through School Assemblies & Author Visits.
Kids deserve role models who genuinely believe in them. I'm honored to be one of them.