How does/did martial arts affect your child in school?
by mmafan on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 | 8 Comments
I am thinking about getting my 2 children in a form of martial arts. Will the discipline that is taught in martial arts help them in school or will martial arts just teach them how to fight? I’ve read alot of things on this subject, I just want to know how martial arts helps/helped or hurt(s) your child.
How old are they? I’m 14.
Well, it definitely gave me confidence, and I learned so now chances of me winning a fight went up probably from 20% to maybe about 80/90%
As for discipline. I guess I would say I’m more mature than when I was when I came in.
I don’t have kids but I studied martial arts in my younger days. It taught me confidence, and discipline which are two things that are in short supply in today’s kids. Most martial arts instructors do not put up with kids fighting in school. We were told that if we got into a fight that was not pure self defense we would be expelled from the dojo. I studied Karate as a kid and Akido as an adult until about 27 or so when sports injuries caught up with me. Unless your child is a bully already I would definitly recomend martial arts classes.
I have no children so I can only speak of my own experience. I used to have a bad, and even at times violent temper. Martial Arts has taught me how to control, or channel it in a more positive way. It also taught me to focus on the task at hand. In the case of school work I began actually doing my homework.lol My grades improved. My fighting subsided for the most part. I had other more productive things to do that kept me occupied. Therefore, I no longer felt like I had to get into something in order to have something to do. As a parent I’m sure you can relate to a youngster’s way of thinking along those lines. Yes?
it will get them disciplined and more respectful. they have less chances getting into fights if they do martial arts then if they don’t. trainers always tell them to keep the fighting in the gym and they will eventually listen. they will have not only more respect for trainers and u but for the teachers and authority figures. this all depends on the kid, but 9 out of 10 times they will use their skills for the good. theres always those kids who do martial arts for the wrong reasons, but thats rare and they either get disciplined or wont last long doing martial arts. martial arts is very good for kids and you will see the change within a few months
If they are young, they probably would use it for beating kids up in the play ground. If they are, lets say age 10 or above, yes it could discipline them.
I have taught adults and children for a long time, and I have observed many children from other dojo as well. As the color of their belts darken, you can see dicipline begin to show in them. They develop manners, and become respectful of themselves and others as they develop as martial artists. This is not written in stone, of course, but that seems to be the general trend. But it will seriously depend on the instructor, and his/her attitude, and ability to instill such attitudes in their students. I would recommend to start them into any classical martial art at around 12 years of age. I have found that under that age they may have trouble paying attention throughout a whole class.
I would caution against forcing them to participate if they prove uninterested. If they are interested it can be a great benefit, but if they are not they will not learn, and resent the fact you made them go.
Talk to them about it, and it will become clear to you.
J
My kids have been in MA for about 6 years. They started when they were 5 and 7. I honestly don’t know how it has helped regarding discipline because I have nothing to gauge it against since they started so young. I do know that they are both honor students and their teachers have said nothing but good things about their behavior and efforts in class. I don’t know what they would have been like without MA. Regarding their social behavior, they both have good friends and neither have ever been in a physical fight. They have never been bullied or complained about problems with schoolmates. One exception, my son had one of his ex-friends who attends a TKD mc dojo (little ninja black belt) do some teasing and decided to try and punch him in the groin. My son pushed him to the ground and has never had a problem with him since. He told me he was concerned that he may have overreacted and pushed too hard. I told him he did no harm to the boy, did not strike the boy but sent the boy a message that he is not the one to mess with.
We have many discussion regarding respect, attitude and application of efforts. We’ve also had many discussions regarding escalation of force theory; what is appropriate and what is not appropriate regarding legal and moral aspects of defense vs. aggression and when the line from defender to aggressor may be crossed. I often find it a bit difficult to bring the conversation to a level they can understand, but I think I’ve managed to do so.
It depends upon the age of your children. If they are mature enough to handle the discipline of a martial arts school then yes it could benefit them. Children who are meek and timid will gain a whole lot of confidence in themselves. Young children that tend to bully others tend to have a great deal of discipline while in class but have not the maturity to transfer those lessons into the school yard… end up showing off and may still bully smaller children. If the Martial arts school is reputable, gets wind of their behavior… they may take appropriate measures to stop it… if bullying continues they will dismiss him/her from their training.
My son was small and picked on in school, so learning a martial art has tremendously helped his self confidence. Though he wasn’t mature enough to start taking his training seriously until he was about 12 years old. My Girl have matured at a much younger age and though they are only 4 and 6 I feel they should be able to train by the time they reach 10 years old.