Kids and Martial Arts

Some parents think that if a kid learns martial arts will become violent… but that’s a myth.
Martial Arts help teach self discipline, confidence and socialization skills.

Like in any other school every martial art has to evaluate the progress on their students, that is why there are ranks. Some styles use stripes on their belts to see the kid’s progress. A stripe could mean the set of blocks, the set of combination, a self defense or learnt requirements. Most testing in kids are generally every three to four months depending on the school.

The best is that kids learn respect, discipline, responsability and confidence. Kids then take this to their daily life and many improve their behavior and grades.

A good age to start a martial art would be between 5 to 6 years old. There are many martial art styles, we recommend traditional martial art styles for kids like: karate, taekwondo and Tang Soo Do. These are traditional martial arts and are safer than active contact martial arts like MMA, Grappling, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Boxing.

Active Contact Martial arts might be too strong for younger kids (3 – 5 years old) but if the kid is interested he should always be allowed to try a class.

The most important aspect of Martial Arts is security, all parents want the best for their kids and they would not like to see their son/daughter with a bruise or injury. That is why regardless of the martial art they chose, kids need to have protection, if they will be punching they need gloves and not any glove, it has to be real leather because plastic or vynil will not last long, besides a good glove will protect your kids hands and will keep him from getting hurt.

For boys a groin protector is a must. For Muay Thai shin guards are very important too. We will talk more about protections and add informative articles to our website.