You may be wary about having your child study martial arts, but they’re sports, too, and aren’t very different from activities like basketball. Sports are a great way to help kids make friends, work off excess energy, and stay in shape. When learning martial arts, kids will see other benefits besides the ones already mentioned.
If you’re not sure what discipline your child should learn, it’s a good idea to consider aikido classes for kids. It’s not as aggressive as other martial arts like karate, and it encourages students to learn how to respond to attacks calmly. Let’s take a look at how aikido can help kids improve their self-defence.
It Develops Overall Fitness
Just because a martial art is described as nonaggressive, it doesn’t mean practitioners are weak.
Students of aikido spend a lot of time learning how to safely throw someone. They also spend time learning how to turn a fall into a roll so they escape injury. This whole time, though, they improve their range of movement and coordination, as well as improve their balance. Over time, they’ll become stronger and fitter.
It Boosts Self-Esteem
When a kid has low self-esteem, they may find themselves struggling in school. They may perform poorly in class recitations, have difficulty making friends, and can hardly communicate with their peers.
Aikido classes can help children break through such barriers, building self-esteem as students get positive feedback from their trainers whenever they successfully learn something new. Eventually, these children will feel more confident, and their school struggles will become a thing of the past.
It Develops Respect and Cooperation
In aikido classes, students learn early on the importance of teamwork, which then helps them learn how to work with different people. This cooperation is important for each individual’s success in learning new techniques, and it leads to greater respect for and understanding of the person they’re partnered with for the class.
It Focuses on Factors Other than Strength
An aikidoka – that is, someone who practices aikido – can use a combination of dynamic throws, pins, and joint locks to overcome any opponent. This is because the focus of the discipline is on redirecting the force someone hostile is using and turning it against them.
So rather than size or strength, aikido relies more on movement, timing, and techniques. In other words, it doesn’t matter if your child isn’t physically strong, or is somewhat smaller than their peers. If they can learn and master aikido techniques, they’ll be able to protect themselves effectively in case they’re attacked in some way.
Even as students progress through the classes, learning new techniques and practical applications, they’re reminded that self-defence doesn’t have to mean injuring the other party, and that aikido is a means to resolve conflict as peacefully as possible.
Given all of the above, you can see that there’s really no cause for concern that your child will be hurt, as long as their instructors are competent and are constantly guiding the students to ensure everyone’s safety. If you want to sign your child up for classes but aren’t sure where to start, you can visit this page for more information.
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