Benefits of martial arts training for kids

Info about Martial Arts

If you are worried that your child watches too much televisionand doesn’t know how to behave martial art training may be just the right thingfor your child. These disciplines are not what you can see on television, allviolence and no meaning. Most of these martial arts originated in Asia, and thereare many types and styles. All of these disciplines, whether they come fromChina, Japan, Vietnam or any other Asian country have some things in common:the base is always moral teaching and the practice always includes physical, emotionaland mental training.

Japanese martial arts are karate, jujitsu, aikido and judo.Chinese invented kung-fu, and Koreans taekwondo. For your child you (or him orher) may choose the discipline that suits him/her the best.

Karate encompasses both aggressive and defensive moves, suchas punches, kicks, strikes, blocking, chops or sparring, and in some cases alsouse of weapons. Jujitsu is similar, butinvolves much more sparring and weapons. Judo is considered to be one of thesafest martial arts, and people who train this discipline compete with eachother using wrestle-like movements. There is emphasis on both mental andphysical development of the practitioners in this martial art. Aikido is allabout disabling the aggression without attack, and using your inner energy. Thereis no sparring or competitions in aikido.

Kung-fu includes various styles of different Chinese martialarts. There are defensive and aggressive movements and sparring competitions.

In taekwondo there are many high kick and footwork, andattack, force and strength are highly appreciated. This discipline is mainly consistedof sparring and competitions.

Why Martial Arts?

There are many benefits for your child that he or she mightget from martial art practice. First of all, these disciplines tend to developconfidence and self-esteem, but at the same time also self-discipline and concentration.When learning some martial art, your child will also have the opportunity tolearn how to respect people and show some courtesy when needed. For some kids,group sports are not the best activity, since they are not good in groups andthey can’t show their abilities well. Martial arts provide the chance tocombine mental and physical training and show those kids what they can achieve.

Special need children, such as learning problems,hyperactivity or attention deficit disorder (ADD) may find these trainings verybeneficial as well, because this structured training can resolve or at leastease some of their problems.

What you should also know when deciding whether to sign inor not your kid to some martial art school is that martial arts are safer thanmany of usual school sports.