Martial Arts For Kids

By Owen Jones


All individuals should know how to protect themselves. They always used to, especially before the introduction of the police force. Before there was a police force, there was turmoil and it was every man for himself. Men defended themselves and their family from all sorts of thieves, muggers and rapists for thousands of years normally with a sword or a stick.

There is a lot less violence on the streets now than there was 200 years ago, but there is still too much and so lots of people still feel the need to be able to defend themselves. Lots of people turn to martial arts and the best time to take up martial arts is while you are young.

And this is going on as well. Numerous parents are scared for three reasons: 1] that their kids will experience bullying at school 2] that they will get harassed on the streets by predators or 3] that they will be overweight. Martial arts are the best solution to all these fears. Practicing martial arts can expend 300-450 calories per hour.

But the advantages of learning martial arts do not stop there. Martial arts has a normalizing effect on individuals. It raises the self-confidence of the introverted and timid, but it also teaches bullies that there is always someone better too. It teaches self-disciple, self-defence and self-confidence. It makes the weak robust and the fat thin. It is a life coach.

If your child wants to study a martial art or indeed mixed martial arts, the first thing to do is choose which style is the one for the child. You could start doing this by looking at videos on the differen styles. Not films with stories where everything is sketched, but documentary films.

The foremost ones to look at are: boxing, wrestling, karate, muay Thai, tae kwon do, jiu jitsu and judo. There are others, but it is best to find a general type first, because some require more speed, energy, nimbleness or strength than others. Some mental and physical attributes are more suitable to one discipline than another.

Once you have a style in mind, you can start looking for a gym or dojo that instructs it. Check out the safety record and the facilities of any that you fancy and talk to the trainers. It is also important that your child will get able to go to the groups, so you will want a dojo that is open after school hours and most of the weekend. Most of them are, but it is worth asking.

It is practical if the dojo will give private lessons to students who either fall behind or who are better than their colleagues. Once into the sport, you child might decide that he or she would rather have done a different one, check to see if that is possible without losing what you have already paid in advance charges.

Every child ought to be encouraged, but not forced, to at least attempt a martial art, because it will give them a helpful interest for life that will make their hearts, minds and bodies strong for life.




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