Martial arts for kids has grown in the last few decades from a fad to a mandatory youth experience. Children train for a few months like they would any sport, in seasonal fashion. Martial arts and karate, I would argue, are not just seasonal sports. The benefits your kids receive from them can be integral in how your child acts as an adult.
Here is a list of the top 5 skills your kids should learn from training. I am going to leave out self-defense for a few reasons I will write about in another article. Mainly because of my Master’s degree in Criminology, I know who is usually the most dangerous to my daughter. A close family member, boss, spouse. Often times these situation’s cannot be resolved by learning krav maga, and kicking someone in the groin. When your boss blackmails you or husband is not treating you right, karate skills can help, but I would argue not because you know how to knock him unconscious.
Now are there places of travel, places you can live, and situations to learn self defense? Of course! I am not against learning how to defend yourself. I also do not believe that a martial art can give you any skills if it is not rooted in actual self defense. Still, when I walk on the mat to teach a class I would much rather be developing the skills people consider values, the martial arts is simply a vehicle.
