How Learning Karate Can Boost Your Child’s Academic Success
Most parents already know that learning karate will benefit their children’s physical health and fitness – but many may not be aware that martial arts can also result in improved academic performance. This is partly due to the skills kids learn in karate class, as well as the overall physical and mental benefits of exercise.
Here are some of the specific ways getting kids involved in karate can help them succeed in other areas of their lives, presented by Blue Wolf Martial Arts.
Physical Exercise can Improve Brain Function
Getting your children involved in any kind of safe and healthy physical activity may benefit them when it comes to their learning and overall cognitive abilities. For one thing, exercise increases the oxygen flow to the brain, as well as the number of neurotransmitters, which the brain needs to concentrate and learn. And these benefits don’t require intense fitness regimens: even a short session of moderate exercise can help students do better in school and in learning in general.
Karate Helps Kids Develop Discipline
Discipline can be as important as cognitive ability for school success. Discipline involves having a good work ethic, the ability to practice self-control, and the capacity to do work and meet deadlines on time. Karate helps children develop the ability to control their impulses and focus on longer-range goals, instead of requiring instant gratification. This will help them focus on and complete their school assignments, as well as appreciate the long-term goal of getting good grades.
Kids Learn Valuable Social Skills in their Martial Arts Classes
Learning how to communicate, how to work together in teams, and how to actively support one another – these are all elements of good martial arts training. In karate class, children are also encouraged to develop qualities of respect and courtesy toward their teachers and their peers.
Additionally, martial arts classes tend to emphasize the value of conflict avoidance and conflict resolution, with physical self-defense being reserved as a last resort. And because kids learn confidence in their karate classes, they will be more at ease in social situations, and better equipped to make new friends.
Karate Can Help Children Deal with Anxiety or Stress
Physical activity may help with reducing the incidence or intensity of anxiety in children as well as in adults. Activities that increase your heart rate can get endorphins flowing, which helps one feel better, more confident, and more relaxed. Your child can become more confident by being uncomfortable during their training sessions. Learning to overcome difficult situations is a gradual process which will develop in these environments.
On top of this, kids in martial arts will learn physical control and breathing methods that can help them to process and reduce anxiety, should they find themselves in stressful situations in school.
How Can You Encourage Your Child to Do well in Karate?
If your child has expressed an interest in karate or other martial arts, you want to help them pursue and maintain this interest. Even if you are unable to sign them up for in-person martial arts classes due to concerns about safety or finances, there are many online resources and classes that can help them learn more and practice what they have learned.
If you are looking for excellent classes and instructors in the Stow, Ohio region, check out the different options at Blue Wolf Martial Arts. You can also help them by setting up a practice area indoors or even putting in an outdoor dojo at home. Just keep in mind that you’ll want level, unobstructed space for the sake of safety. Keep your receipts for any major renovations because they may increase the appraisal value of your home.
Consider Martial Arts for Growth and Confidence
Parents who enroll their children in karate or other martial arts classes are not only helping them stay active and fit. They are also giving them added tools for success -- like confidence and discipline -- that will help them both in school and in the world beyond.
Amanda Henderson is both a mom to two rambunctious boys and a preschool teacher, so she knows from experience how quickly a situation can become unsafe. She created and writes for Safe Children to educate parents on how to keep their children safe while also having fun.