Now more than ever, parents are finding that kids martial arts classes have an incredible effect on their kids. Helping them achieve better grades and become more confident people. Martial arts for kids is not all just about punches and kicks. It’s about helping kids become the best versions of themselves that they can be! Read on to find out more about this amazing sport and after-school activity.
Discipline and Success in Kids Martial Arts Classes
First, let’s take a step back and define a really important word… What does “success” mean to you? Some define it through wealth or material goods. Some define it through the number of lives they impact. No matter how you define success, most successful people, like world-famous athletes, celebrities, and business leaders, can attribute all of their success to one key thing, never giving up.
We often forget that every successful person we see was once a child themselves, and somewhere along the way, they turned their talents into lasting success mostly through perseverance. It’s not a coincidence that we teach perseverance and discipline in every single class, every single week. Learning these skills is how leaders are formed.
Being able to persevere through the rough stuff in life and have the self-discipline to do what is right, even when it’s hard, makes a good person great. These skills make people kind, compassionate, and respectful to others, and they create better community members and industry leaders. Can you see why it’s so critical to establish discipline and perseverance early on? Especially if you want your child to become the most successful versions of themselves, however, they define it- you have to lay that foundation.
Self-discipline and perseverance are critical for maintaining good grades. That’s why we’ve seen plenty of kids enter their first martial arts class with low grades and behavior problems, and soon experience major behavioral transformations and get higher grades to boot. Our instructors help them become “indistractable,” listen thoughtfully to their teachers, instructors, parents, and peers, and learn how to inspire themselves to do their school work without an adult’s influence. Kind of awesome!
Martial Arts Teaches Kids Confidence
Sothroughoutf several martial arts classes, we see these kids transform. They get better grades, keep at it until they get their goal, and behave like angels- that’s great for us as adults (and, of course, for the kids too). But you probably want to know, how do martial arts classes benefit your child right now? Where is that short-term benefit to complement those life-long habits of success we’re building?
Well, the coolest thing about martial arts is that the punches and kicks, though life-saving as you grow older, are kind of a disguise for something deeper. Martial arts isn’t just a self-defense curriculum. It’s a tool we use to teach confidence from the inside out, a skill that will help kids right off the bat.
Martial arts can be challenging for kids, especially because they’re just starting to learn how to coordinate all their body parts together and focus. A confident child is going to keep at it, whatever it is because they know they can do it. That’s a good thing. An unconfident child will persevere because they think they’re dumb, a failure, or that they’re not going to make someone proud. Which is a bad thing. You have to pair both the discipline and the inside-and-out confidence to have your child become the best they can be.
So in those moments of struggle (which are inevitable, by the way), our instructors come in and teach them how to positively talk to themselves. Instead of “I can’t, I’m dumb, I’ll never get it so what’s the point,” we teach our students to say “I can and I will, I’m trying my best, and I will keep going until I achieve my goal.” And what’s so cool about this is that this positive self-talk starts to have an actual impact. The kids become more confident because our instructors get through to them. They see that they are able to do anything they put their mind to (with the right attitude), and they make themselves proud every week in class by doing more and more cool things. Some of our favorite moments are with kids who enter our classes shy and unconfident and end up letting their real personalities shine through!
One more important topic. Confidence is huge for helping kids become what we call bully-proof. The bullies at school (and in your child’s head) don’t stand a chance against a confident child. A confident child isn’t afraid to stand up for themselves and others who are being picked on. Imagine if all the kids were like this! This is why we strongly believe all children should take martial arts classes. The benefits are honestly endless.
Martial Arts Is For Everyone
Now that you understand how martial arts classes build life-long success habits we’ve established how martial arts fosters life-changing success skills in kids. We’ll touch on two other practical benefits.
First, martial arts is a great place for kids who are in other sports, as they’ll learn those life skills that make them better athletes overall… But it can also serve as a real home for kids who are not so sporty and may feel left out because of it.
Martial arts is an individual sport in a group setting, kids who may be shy about being “not so athletic” don’t have to worry about “letting their team down” or getting picked on. All they focus on is their growth and improvement (while they cheer on their peers of course!). And because it’s an individual sport, our students build a better relationship with setting and getting the goals they put their mind to and recognizing their achievements. It’s excellent for boosting that confidence in not-so-sporty kids and allowing them to be proud of themselves in a new way.
Don’t forget that martial arts is a form of self-defense. Self-defense is, in our opinion, essential for everyone to have in their back pocket, regardless of age, gender, or ability. It’s one of those things you don’t want to have to use but will wish you learned if you need it. Though we teach nonviolent forms of conflict resolution and show students that physical self-defense should only be used as a last resort, if a bully gets violent or an emergency happens, your child needs to know how to protect themselves.
Join our Kids Classes!
Now you know why more kids than ever are taking martial arts classes! Martial arts is an amazing tool we use to teach kids the life-changing skills of discipline, perseverance, and confidence. Plus, it’s a great sport for any child to be proud of their accomplishments and become positive leaders in their community! Get started today with our risk-free trial. Your child will Love it! Free Trial Offer!