Martial Arts for Children: How It Can Help Them Cope with School Life Stress?

Martial art training is a great activity for children in terms of a physical way to burn off some energy and also to learn some valuable life skills for confidence and self defence to deal with negative peer pressure and bullying.

But it is does far more than that…

We can agree that the School Life of any child is quite stressful and a worrying time for parents as well, especially as children approach secondary school and into their early teenage years and then beyond.

With primary school children there is not so much emphasis on gruelling amounts of tests and exams but still has its fare share and the 11 Plus is a tremendous worry for most. This part of their life is their foundation to move forward through their school years with vital education to assist later at higher school and to have an understanding to what they wish to achieve and setting them on their path to an even higher level of education or career in the future.

Martial arts are great for children of this age during this education process because it helps them to concentrate better particularly on much more challenging aspects of school work. Not only this but at times they can become lacklustre when they find something too hard or complicated which then spoils their focus.

This is where the qualities Perseverance and Patience come into play. Training in the martial arts teaches the student to persevere when challenges are put in front of them so as they begin to tire or feel overwhelmed, to always remind themselves to always try their best and nothing more and also to never be phased by a challenge or obstacle, instead to learn from it and see it as a positive experience that is going to help them improve.

Along with this they also learn to be patient with themselves and understand that new things or more challenging things do sometimes take time to get right, this is the nature of learning. The mental and physical state of the human body needs time to adjust to the new stimulus. This applies to a new subject at school or learning a new technique or sequence in martial arts training. It is important to understand that if something like that was easy it wouldn’t serve any purpose to keep working on it.

Again much like the aforementioned the martial arts trains a number of qualities that can support a child in their education but an extra amount of pressure is applied in higher education.

So let’s think about children in higher education i.e. secondary school…

That is a result of exams which of course are vital because the next stage is to look at career prospects for children to choose for themselves. However there seems to be much more strenuous times in store for secondary school students nowadays, this is partly because of the new laws on education meaning children must remain in education longer but also to prevent students from becoming lazy and make them push harder to achieve their goals whatever they might be, this means working towards higher grades which in its own way is good, but also much more stressful as well.

The trouble is that along with this comes an extreme amount of home study, done so that students practice what they have learnt in school to make sure they have been paying attention so there is no denying its gravity of importance. But this along with the pressure of exams leads to increased stress on students to meet deadlines and cram so much into one setting; it can be sometimes difficult for parents to understand their own child’s mind in that situation even though they feel they might do.

Most children at some point or another take up other activities outside of their school time which they particularly enjoy and want to do well at, such as football and also beavers/scouts etc. This is great because this aids in setting children on the course of their chosen path and influences them to have an idea of their future and allowing them a break from being bogged down in revision etc.

However the grass is not always greener. Due to the excess pressure of school work it begins to pile up the homework and also revision practice for exams. This means that the out of school activities that children partake in can seem of less interest to them. It also means that when they are ‘mentally’ tired they perform less than expected and don’t feel the need to pursue it any further which is not healthy for their state of mind.

There is no real way to conquer this other than children need to understand that they can only do so much in one go, if they try to get everything done quickly then there is not much chance for them to concentrate on doing it properly, especially if their teachers hand them back their work to do again which can be frustrating and gives children the feeling that they are not good enough.

It is important for children to give themselves some ‘down time’ and think about something else for a while, parents are also aware of this and are mindful and observant to their needs. This is how martial arts can help children to break free and take their mind off the stressful stuff.

When they come into the training hall, the only thing that matters is that they enjoy their lesson and feel like they have done a great job, exercise is done to allow them to work off their energy which is built up somewhere in their body but they couldn’t use it because their brain wouldn’t let them. Putting some boxing gloves on and working on a bag or pad is a great way for them to channel their aggression and also learning forms/patterns to give them something different to concentrate on. Martial Arts training also teaches them to show self control and not to get aggravated if something doesn’t go their way or if they can’t figure something out as that can have consequences.

Not only that but like a majority of recreational activities, martial arts has a progressive achievement system within it where they can earn belts by doing gradings and using the knowledge they have gained to move forward in the ranks. This gives them a sense of achievement and makes them feel better about themselves which in turn helps them to focus better in school and persevere at the most difficult times.

So now ask yourself…

Why not let my children try it and see how it benefits them?

We here at Family Martial Arts Black Belt Schools promise to help make your child’s school life less stressful and encourage them to do and be their best every step of the way.

It is important that children enjoy themselves when times are tough and training in martial arts is perfect for this. It is lots of fun and in every way educational too. Come and see us to introduce them to a new way of life…one that will last forever.

By Michael Morgan-Lewis

Chief Instructor of Family Martial Arts - Maidstone