One of those things that you need to keep in mind for your kids as they grow older is for them to take karate lessons or training. It has a great way of taking advantage of their development and getting them in from their early years. If your child is still in the developmental stage, it is not wrong to enroll him in karate classes after school.
Depending on the karate school, they usually allow you to enroll your child in a karate class when they are between 4 and 6 years old. By around the age of six, your child should be able to learn and apply most concepts.
Obviously, the exact age depends a lot from one child to another. So, in the rest of the article, we will walk you through all the things that you should know if you want to enroll your child in karate class.
At what age should a child start karate?
In general, there is no standard age for a child to start karate lessons, it depends on the rate of development of the child. While some children grow up quickly, others usually take their time, and as mentioned above, development tends to be faster in a girl than in a boy.
A child can be allowed to start karate at any age as long as he is able to take some lessons as there are a lot of benefits associated with learning karate based on building character and valuable skills. In general, the age of six is considered good enough for a child to take karate lessons.
Six years of age can be considered a good time because the child will develop enough muscles to roll properly and safely and can also throw the right punches. However, you will tend to understand that children under the age of three have been enrolled in karate classes, while they are not thought of as anything too technical.
They tend to prepare themselves for the techniques involved, and by the time most of them reach the age of four or five, they begin to prepare for techniques such as stretching, gymnastics, memory and attention which will all be required for proper training.
At the age of six, the child can understand from right to left, effectively handle constructive and polite criticism, practice almost every day, give 100%, pay attention to the whole class, wait patiently for his turn before speaking, and listen quietly to his own voice. Teacher, understands empathy and how one’s behavior affects others. This might be the right age to start karate lessons.
Is karate good for children?
After checking at what age a child can start karate, you should also find out if karate is good for your child or not. Karate is a martial art that is good for your child and has a lot of benefits associated with it. Mostly, children tend to learn discipline, obedience, respect, impulse control, self-confidence and boundaries from karate lessons.
Benefits of karate for children
As mentioned earlier, karate has a lot of benefits associated with it that can help a child as they grow, check out some of these benefits below:
- personality bulding: Children will build their personalities in the areas of honesty, empathy, kindness and respect. Karate will teach them to respect themselves as well as respect others. These are valuable personality traits that help them become successful as they get older.
- conflict resolution: Karate is not just fighting, it is more than that as its main focus is self defense. Usually, karate teaches children how to settle disputes peacefully in a non-violent manner so that they can avoid physical confrontations. This will go a long way when they are older as they tend to avoid any conflict.
- physical in a safe environment: Some parents have kids who love to wrestle, roll, kick and punch, karate is a safe environment where they can try that out. They will learn how to allow these things safely when they take karate lessons and it is much safer for them than practicing with their siblings.
- Encouraging belonging and teamwork: Although karate can be considered as an individual art, it still teaches teamwork which is absolutely vital to their success. Children are allowed to work in pairs to help with sparring and movements, and they get a sense of belonging that can help them form long-lasting friendships.
- Learn listening and respect skills: One of the best benefits of karate is that children tend to learn to respect their teacher or coach and they will learn to listen and follow instructions so that they can properly learn and improve their skills.
- Self improvement and goal setting: There are different stages in Karate and there are belts or rating systems associated with them. Students are rewarded for mastering their practices and skills and this helps them focus on goals such as achieving a new belt or rank. Going through this process will help in self improvement and goal setting.
- Building confidence and self-esteem: This is one of the great benefits of taking karate lessons as a kid. Learning new skills helps to increase the child’s self-esteem and confidence and they will also need to work alongside other children in the class and also perform skills in the presence of people at special events and grades.
- Be active: This will help build the child’s physical development as he will be active for his age by moving around a lot and will also have flexibility and strength. Children will learn how to develop their skills, to become more agile, to control their bodies and to increase their level of endurance. They also tend to become fit to maintain a healthy life which helps them improve their physical and mental health by preventing health problems such as diabetes and obesity in childhood.
Conclusively, Karate offers a lot of good benefits for kids, especially those who I noticed interested in martial arts at a very early age. Although there is no standard age to enroll your kid in karate lessons, you can enroll your child as early as the age of three, but six years is generally considered the age at which a child easily understands the technical side of karate.