How Important is the Role of a Parent to a Child’s Self-Defence / Martial Arts training?
The answer – Extremely Important!
As you have recently enrolled your child into one of our Kids Classes, it’s important that we bring this to your attention, since we will need to work together to maximise the benefits and help your child get the very best out of their training.
First of all:
Why do parents put their kids in martial arts?
There are various reasons as follows:
- To help their child to defend themselves against bullies at school.
- Or the child is badly behaved at home so the parent wants them to learn some discipline.
- Or the child is too shy so the parent wants them to learn to be more confident.
- Or the parent already knows how this will help their child to grow up being stronger and fitter in many ways.
So as you can see, for many parents, there is an underlying issue that needs to be addressed, or the parent already has a good understanding of the various benefits that our training brings. And in these circumstances, we often find the parent to be a lot more dedicated in ensuring that their child attends each class with continuous regularity.
With this regular encouragement and motivation from the parent, it is no wonder why the children of such parents progress and excel at a much faster pace.
But we also understand that not all parents share these same concerns, or not all parents have been exposed to self-defence / martial arts training themselves to fully understand all the great benefits that their child can potentially gain with this type of training.
For some parents, a martial arts class is not so different to any other activity, something for their child to pass time and have fun in. But you will see below how wrong this notion really is.
It is important for parents to understand that our training is nothing like anything else. And that the benefits from our training both outnumber and outlast any other activity!
This unshakeable belief comes from having real personal experience of both:
- Training in self-defence / martial arts ourselves.
- Teaching for many years and seeing the many different changes it brings into a student’s life.
My own personal experience as both a Martial Artist and a Parent:
Having been bullied as a child myself, I know first-hand how training in martial arts helped me to overcome this. But it also made me into the confident go-getter that I am today. It felt like having a super-power that many others simply did not have, and this feeling remains with me to this very day.
And so, as a parent, I made sure that my children also received this same training. For them, it was never an option but has always been a necessity throughout their lives.
With this training, I knew that I was arming my children with key Life-Skills and character building, skills which they will then carry with them into the rest of their lives i.e.:
- Confidence
- Respect
- Discipline
- Humility
- Mental perseverance
- Being strong not just physically, but mentally and psychologically too!
Which activity is best for kids?
Having done various activities and sports throughout my life, I can wholeheartedly say that there is no other activity that produces so many positive results within a person than training in self-defence / martial arts does!
We have personally seen on a regular basis, how with our training:
- A shy child who can hardly say a word to us at first, is then able to speak in front of an entire audience.
- How an overactive (and even troublesome) child slowly begins to learn how to control themselves in a more positive manner.
- We hear from a parent how proud yet surprised they are of their child standing up to a bully because they would have never imagined their child being able to do that before.
So once again, no other activity in my experience or knowledge to date can produce these same amazing results as martial arts training repeatedly does, time and time again.
What should I do when my child loses interest?
So what happens when your child has started their martial arts training and after a while decides that they no longer wish to continue? What do you do at this point?
Do you simply agree with your child or do you speak to them and help them to understand the need to continue and how it will benefit them?
Here’s what to do!
First of all, remember that this feeling is very natural for a child, as there are times in all of our lives when we don’t feel like doing something even though we may love doing it really. For example, children love playing games but there are times when they are just not in the mood to play. Most people love going out but at times just want to stay at home. It doesn’t mean that they have stopped loving playing or going out, it simply means that at that particular moment in time, they just didn’t feel like doing it and this is a very human trait to find.
Our job as parents is to continue encouraging the child to still attend their martial arts class and most likely what you will find is that when they are there, they will have completely forgotten about not wanting to have come and will end up enjoying the class and having a great time.
We even have adult students who occasionally tell us that they had a really hard day at work and initially felt too tired to come to class but then were so glad to have made the effort to attend because they really enjoyed the class, and it was a great stress relief for them too.
The other thing to keep in mind is that children often do not know what is good for them and it is up to us parents to guide them and make them do what is best for them. We as parents do it all the time don’t we?
- We make them eat their vegetables.
- We monitor how much time they spend watching TV.
- We make them do their homework.
- We make them go to sleep on time.
- We make them go to school even when they don’t want to.
So as you can see, we already make our children do so many other things in life which they at times may not want to do. And we do this because as parents we understand ourselves the need and the benefits in doing so i.e. we have the right knowledge. So when a parent begins to understand the true value of martial arts training, it really does make all the difference to their child’s training in the long run. And this can only be a good thing, especially when the world in which we are living in is becoming not only more dangerous but also more competitive and more stressful in so many ways.
What is the best gift I can give my child?
As one parent said to me, “the best gift one can give to their child is to teach them how to stick up for themselves”. If one takes a moment to really think about this statement, they will realise just how deep and profound it truly is.
So if you ever find that your child doesn’t feeling like going to their martial arts class one day, tell them to put on their uniform and that they are going. Most likely, they will end up having a great time, not fall behind and continue to progress….. and, when they have finally achieved their Black Grade, they WILL thank you for not giving up on them AND for not allowing them to slack or give up either!
I hope this article has given you more insight into what our training is all about and what it can do for your child, as well as, the important role that you play in your child’s training and development.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to share!
Founder of Unleash Self Defence