
Your kids are going to love martial arts!
And then they are going to hate it.
It’s no secret that learning a martial art offers many benefits for adults and children alike. It is also no secret that martial arts classes range from very easy to very (very) difficult. The difference is how long a student stays in training. While beginners start out with easy techniques, eventually the moves get more advanced.
This is where true martial artists are born.
Progressing in a fighting style is just like learning to ride a bike. It's exciting to buy the bike, the colorful helmet and kneepads. You walk to the park smiling, ready to learn. But the inevitability of life is that you will fall down and skin your elbow at some point. (Probably a lot.) You will encounter a hill that just seems too steep to climb.
Many martial arts schools do a thing we call “selling belts." Some of their ads are audacious enough to say it outright: Buy a year of classes, get a guaranteed red belt! After two years, we guaranteed your kid will get a black belt.
That is not how a traditional martial arts school is run, and it's not how Sacred Sword Martial Arts runs.
The point of teaching a child a martial art is to teach them self-discipline. You might find yourself asking, “But isn’t the point to teach them self-defense?”
Ask yourself this: Awareness, knowhow, physical endurance, confidence - are these easy lessons? When emergencies happen, how easy is it for a child to slow down their panicking mind, assess their surroundings, and make rational choices?
The answer is that none of these things come without consistent effort. (Not even to an adult!) These are not always fun or easy lessons. This is where self-discipline comes in. It is the foundation of learning self-defense, and it could literally be the difference between life and death when it matters most.
Doing difficult things while we're young teaches us to be capable
and to strive always towards our best.
That isn’t to say your child won't have fun learning martial arts. On the contrary, it is among the most beloved and diverse physical activities available. Every country in the world has had, at one point, its own version of a martial art or fighting style. Sure, the nature of martial arts is that the learning can be difficult at times. But the empowerment of performing a technique well or teaching it to a new student is a unique reward very few people ever experience.
What matters is that once your child has moved passed the newness and excitement, you keep them consistent. One day they will understand the importance of the determination and grit they're gaining, and they will be grateful. Martial arts lessons follow a child into adulthood and help to build strong-minded, goal-driven people of integrity and character. If you ever learned to ride a bike, you certainly recall the exhilaration and freedom of speeding down a bike path without fear.
The reward for learning to do a thing well
is the feeling of having done a thing well!
That means you, Mom and Dad. When you and your child commit to this training, understand that you are giving them a gift they will try to throw away when the lessons get tough. They might cry. They might whine. They might pout. Make them go to class anyway. This is that “brush yourself off and try again” moment, like with the bike.
When your child gets a belt from Sacred Sword, they will truly have earned it, and it will bring them a true and abiding sense of accomplishment.
Stick with it!
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