Martial arts have been used to help keep hyper children calm through exercise for decades. This can help teach discipline, routine, and stresses importance of staying active which are all valuable to children of any age. MMA can be great for children that might have excess energy or need to increase their self-confidence as MMA can do this. The one drawback is that some martial arts do not have as applicable uses in daily life. MMA on the other hand can be used in altercations of all time as it is the ultimate form of self-defense. Being able to identify whether your child is ready to start in MMA activity can be tough as it makes a parent take a lot into account. The following are characteristics that your child should possess as well as what they can learn from MMA classes as well as facts about kids in MMA.
Temper
The last thing that a parent wants to do is to send their child with a temper to MMA. While MMA can teach discipline an explosive temper with the tools to do real physical damage can be a dangerous combination. No amount of telling your child only to use their skills in self-defense will keep a hot tempered child from lashing out. Assessing the reason for the temper is wise to do before enrolling your child in any activity that teaches them martial arts. The odds are that one or both parents have a bad temper as this is something that seems to run in families. This could lead you to take a look at the way you and your spouse react to upsetting situations.
Maturity To Identify A Threatening Situation
There are real threats and faux threats while your child is at school on a daily basis. A person simply staring them down or calling them names is not reason enough to use MMA skills on them. The maturity to identify a truly threatening situation physically can be tough as it can even be difficult for adults. Telling them not to punch first is not the answer as the last thing you want is a sucker punch to hurt your child. Do some roleplaying with situations that could arise as this can give your child a better idea of when it is acceptable to defend themselves in a physical capacity. Bullies do exist and usually back down when someone stands up to them especially if that person does not back down in fear.
Rules Are Different If They Decide To Compete
Most people think of children’s MMA as barbaric and have no idea that the rules even change from professional to amateur MMA. Larger gloves are used by amateur adult fighters to reduce the damage done by one punch. Headgear is also worn as well during this as well as child MMA competitions. No striking is allowed in children’s MMA so those thinking that brain damage will occur are flat out wrong. Simply participating in MMA does not mean that your child has to compete unless they want to. Much like other sports we need to support what our children want to do rather than what we want them to do. Allow your child to learn as much as possible about the sport as well as techniques before competing. Competing too early can lead to bad habits that are hard to break in the future.
Helps Teach Accountability
The one drawback of team sports is that it is far too easy to blame others for a loss whether it is a bad throw or a last second shot that was missed. Plenty of people that are adults do not take personal accountability in their person or professional lives. There is nobody but yourself to blame when you lose in MMA whether it is during a drill or a competition. Great MMA teachers will stress accountability as a stomachache miraculously appearing after a loss being coddled by a parent is far too prevalent in all sports. This will be a great attribute of your child as it will help them throughout life. Blaming others for problems does not solve anything but rather figuring out a problem is your issue and solving it is a life lesson.
All children are different so the age they start MMA can vary drastically. MMA is also not for everyone so a timid child might come out of their shell or turn more into a recluse due to participating in this. We know our children better than anyone else so write out a list of pros and cons of starting MMA. You might find there are far more positives listed as MMA can teach so much about life in general. Discipline is the best aspect of this as discipline is something that a person will take with them throughout their lifetime.
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