Martial Arts and children

[rebajayne]

Hi,
My son who is 5 years old has asked if he can join a martial arts group. I went along to our local martial arts school to watch, it seems very good and I think it could do wonders for my son.
Im having a lot of trouble with him not doing things 1st time and his conduct at school is terrible. Since the martial arts classes are designed to improve there concentration and behaviour and run to a 1st time rule, Im thinking that it should help him.
But one problem im having at school is his hitting other children and mimicking Power rangers (which I have banned). I don't want the classes to make this problem worse.
Has anyone else been in the same situation or has anyone got children in Martial Arts groups that could give me some feedback.
Thanks

[pixiepie]

hi rebajayne
all mine went to martial arts at one time and it is a really good way of teaching disapline and concentration. They are not allowed to mess about and are told in no uncertain terms they are not to use this outside. We had a really good instructor who was always willing to talk to any of them if they were out of line and told us he was always at the end of the phone if needs be.
They were also told if any power rangers was played they would not be allowed to go anymore and that seemed to work.
Good luck x

[annie0000]

i think you just need to be careful which instructor you use - if there is a choice of more than one class, go along to each one and see which class you feel most comfortable with. They will all tell you that children are told that they cannot use it outside, but some will be better in terms of reinforcing this than others!You will need to go with your instinct and aslo with whatever class you son feels most comfortable in. As for the hitting, I go through this with one of my kids, he was quite bad for it for a while, more in a pesty way than particularly aggressive - the school thought that it was because he was shy and trying to get attention. Have of me thinks it has merit the other half thinks what a lot of rot!

So, we have gone for a two pronged approach of trying to equip him with the skills to socialise more easily, telling him disappointed we are when he hits someone and frightening the living daylights out of him with what might happen if he keeps on hitting - luckily, our neighbours daughter has had a recent encounter with a boy that hit her (maybe not lucky for her though) my neighbour callled the police, and I was able to tell my kids that the reason for the police being round. i.e. if you hit someone, their parents may get the police round.

having said that, he seems a lot better - but we need to watch what he drinks as any kind of squash seems to make him more aggressive.

[rebajayne]

Thanks for your answers, they have both helped me. I have defentley decided that i am going to join him in the school.
Annie thanks for your answer. I have tried frightening him also. Nothing is really working but im working with a 0-16 team out of school so hopefully they will be able to give me some help.
Thanks again, got to keep positive hopefully this will work

[helliebobs]

My father in law has his own martial arts school and he and my husband teach aikido and karate - they have a number of classes for young children and have got excellent results from some of the more hard to control kids who train. I'm not sure about every martial art but aikido is very good for teaching discipline and control, but I agree, you need to find a good teacher first.

[Lily_b]

I did Judo from age 5 through to 14 and as others have said the instructor usually places rules on the use of the skills you learn. This was in the early 80s, so our instructor had no compunction in threatening to show us all the different pressure points on the body if he heard we practiced outside of class in a non life threatening situation. ;-)

He had a knack of relating to kids who tended to misbehave, gaining respect as due his rank (8th Dan Kyoshi Judo) although searching for him on the net, he has now retired - at 74!! We had occasional days when we learnt 'James Bond moves' which always turned out to be throws we needed to perfect for grading and we had loads of fun. If anyone wanted to take him on, he let them, I think you might figure out who always won though.

Check out the local schools, go to a couple so you get an idea of the different martial arts and instructors methods to see which sparks the interest of both yourself and your son.