They always say that one of the best ways to help your kids explore who they are develop into righteous, physically fit adults is to get them into martial arts. Martial arts, in the eyes of some, are just acts of violence but the truth could not be any further from this statement.
Martial arts like Hapkido, Aikido, Judo, Krav Maga, and others teach more than just fighting. These are ways of life that influence a person’s control over their body, their mind, as well as their philosophies in life.
If you need any reason to start your kid enrolling martial arts then take a look at these seven listed below:
Kids Get More Active
It’s time to get your kids away from the TV, away from their video games, and definitely away from the Internet. Too many kids are staying indoors eating junk food and wasting away on Facebook. Martial arts training is a great way to get them out of their coop and back into action.
Kids are spending so much time with their gadgets that the era of playing basketball and football outdoors is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Kids don’t even play out in the street together anymore. They just visit one kid’s house and sit around a TV and play video games.
Martial arts changes that. They have to interact physically with the other people.
Boost Their Social Skills
Martial arts classes involve a lot of people working together to help one another get better. It’s like a brotherhood but it is the philosophy of the art that binds everyone like a family instead of a verbal oath. This kind of environment would do a lot of good for a child.
Kids can learn how to make friends, how to help each other, and to understand their limits with other people just by attending these classes.
Kids Develop Better Self-Discipline
Kids will get hit during their training. It’s inevitable. They’ll get hit, thrown, and pushed a lot. They will win some sparring matches and they will a lot more. A child with no self-discipline will suddenly lash out and fight back with no honor but martial arts slowly eliminate that.
Self-discipline is a big part of martial arts because a child needs to learn to control themselves in situations so tempting to just fight back and hurt someone. Kids learn martial arts not to hurt but to defend and that essence is gained through continuous sessions at the dojo.
Learn to Set Goals
If you’ve seen the colored Hapkido belts, Karate belts, and Judo belts then you might be familiar with the hierarchy of skills in martial arts schools. These belts help a student identify what rank they are, what skills they have to learn, and just how far they are from the top.
This belt system helps them to identify goals and form plans to achieve those goals. They understand that a blue belt is better than a white belt and the only way they’ll reach that rank is to master the current skills taught to them and to prove that they have mastered everything for their current level.
Goal setting plays a larger role in life, such as being able to set goals to save money, finish college, and get a good job. It all starts here in their childhood, while studying martial arts.
Raise Their Self Confidence
Wearing a Judo gi with a blue belt might seem like a small achievement for people aiming for the black belt but for a young child they will wear it with pride, especially when they learn the meaning and history of the uniform they wear.
Shy kids often turn out to be quite confident after studying martial arts. Martial arts becomes a gateway for them to open up, feel like someone that matters, and their growing list of fighting skills makes their confidence grow even more as time passes by.
Improve’s Health
As mentioned above, martial arts gets kids outdoors and into physical activities. Over time, this develops into a regular routine and that helps kids avoid obesity and other health conditions. The physical aspect of martial arts builds their strength and endurance, making your kids less likely to get sick.
It’s not just about burning calories either. Martial arts help the bones to develop and get stronger, a child will develop a stronger immune system, develop better breathing, and will be less prone to improper posture.
Kids Will Develop Quality Self-Defense
Self-defense is one of the main goals of studying martial arts. Children get bullied at school and may even be assaulted by adults who aim to hurt them, kidnap them, or rape them. Martial arts is a perfect means of teaching them how to protect themselves when necessary.
Martial arts teaches a child when to run, when to fight back, how to fight back, and when to avoid fighting all together.
