A little while ago I recieved a phone call from a concerned mum, she had on of our flyers and wanted to know about how Kids Martial Arts training could help her son improve with his Concentration and Self Control.

She was at her wits end and was thinking about taking her son to the doctors to be "assessed".

Apparently he has a lot of problems with being able to FOCUS, it was effecting home and school.Mum hoped  we might be able to help. After listening for a while and asking a few questions we made an appointment to come down for a chat and to watch a class like we always do for someone that’s interested in finding out more.

He was a great kid, lot of energy and questions, but every time I tried to answer one of them straight away he would start to look around the school and fidget in his chair in a really uncontrolled way…….Mum just glanced at me with that “see what I mean” kind of look.

So I said his name a few times until I had his attention and we had a chat about the mind and the body that went something like this….

“Billy” in martial arts we learn lots of amazing things that normal people just can’t do, Awesome Kicks, How to do Somersaults and even for our best students Weapons training and the way that we learn them is by Focusing on each moment that we are at training, by Listening to our teachers and Concentrating on what we are doing when it’s our turn to practice.

In our attention stance, which is our learning stance, there are three things that you need to do

• STOP moving
• LOOK at your teacher &
• LISTEN to what they are saying….. just like at school and at home.

I always link things back to school and home when I can because it’s important for people (kids and parents) to understand that this is not just about kicking and punching, but about life.

If your teacher at school says “Can I have everyone’s attention please “, then you need to Stop moving, Look at your teacher and Listen to what they’re saying so you can learn what to do.

However if you mind is thinking about what’s next or what you did last week then it’s not right here right now with your body in this moment. Your body is here at the table with me but your mind is not, it’s away thinking about other things.

​So your Mind and your Body have to become one thing and do one thing at a time, not two things trying to do five things at a time. He nodded his head and then went back to looking around and fidgeting in his chair.

We then did our 10 minutes mini practice to help him get ready for the next time he comes in to do a 45 minute class with all the other students. He had trouble with his Concentration and his Focus but we’re working on it and I’m pretty sure we will see a big improvement over the next few months.

Kids Karate or kids martial arts as we prefer to call it, has many benifits for children, it improves their Concetration, Listening, and Confidence skills. At Guests Martial Arts this begins right from the first words we say when class starts......... our Student Creed................. I've put my interpretation below in brackets.

My Aim - I aim to develop myself in a Positive Manner , to increase my Mental Growth and Physical Health.
(A positive mental attitude and a healthy body)

My Plan - I plan to develop Self Dicipline in order to bring out the best in myself and in others
( We study martial arts not just for ourselves but for all our friends and family too)

My Promise - I promise to be Truthful, Respectful, Courageous and above all I shall always try to do my best.
(Live life in a way that you can be proud of and give it your best each and every time)

My Goal - My Goal Is Black Belt
(When commiting to something worthwhile have destination in mind)

We teach our students that being a Guests Martial Arts student means that you have both a purpose and values that you live by.

This student creed is said by our Ninja Star (5 - 7yr olds) and Samurai Warrior (8 -12yr olds) students at the start of every lesson. It's our way of starting the lesson right each and every time we step out onto the mats and of reminding ourselves that we need to Focus because training is about to start..........

Martial arts’ training has always been a great way to help children learn about Discipline. As an Instructor we have certain expectations from our students with regards to behaviour in the Dojo (martial arts school).

At Guests Martial Arts one of our main focuses is actually on Self Discipline rather than Imposed Discipline because Self Discipline is the key to getting things done not only here but at home and at school as well.

You can’t have someone looking over their shoulder all the time, and even if you could is that what you really want?

Does that mean that we let them run wild on the mats and do what they like? Of course not, however what we do is give the student the opportunity to control themselves and then if that’s not working, particularly with the younger ones; we are there to provide guidelines and rules that set boundaries for students to follow.

We all know that a child with rules to follow is on the whole much happier overall, despite any protests at the time.  I'm  big believer in this approach because if you don't give a child the opportunity to try for themselves with a risk of failure (in the right environment) then they're not really developing any Self Discipline instead they're just learning how to do what they're told and that’s a big difference.

We have other programmes in place as well, such as the behaviour management tools that I’ve developed over the years, our Excellent Manners and Self Control charts play a huge part in getting the behaviour established no only at Guests Martial Arts but also at home and school.

When primary school children graduate to high school the demands for their time increases quite a bit, in the later stages of high school a student can be expected to study as much as 2, 3 even up to 5 hrs a night during exam periods. The key to success in this area is Self Discipline, there is no other way and the time to teach them is now!





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Regards

Craig Guest