Why Should You Invest in Self Defence Classes for Your Kid.

As parents, we are very protective when it comes to our children and we want to do everything we can to keep them safe and from harm’s way. However, sometimes they are out there, all by themselves, without our help or guidance, where we have to help them trust their abilities and teach them to take care of themselves.

Self defence is not something that is related to being an adult activity, but is a very useful skill for a growing child. Learning how to protect oneself from a potential threat is an important skill set we should help our children learn.

So what is self defence?

According to Scotsman Shield, “Self-defense is the use of reasonable force to protect oneself, or someone close by from harm in the event of an attack by an aggressor.”

Self-defence can avert serious negative occurrences, such as injury or death. It is not just a physical skill but is as much a mental skill, because no matter how strong or agile a person is, if they lack the mental awareness and knowledge to execute countermeasures when confronted by a potential attacker, they will be easily overpowered.

Identifying a dangerous solution, learning how to assess your surroundings, and knowing what to do when confronted by an attacker by both physical and mental means, is the core of self defence.

So as it is not a very simple skill, we need trained professionals to teach this skill, which leads us to our next question :

What are self-defence classes?

Self defence classes typically comprise three parts: the general knowledge on fighting, avoidance and de-escalation techniques, and familiarisation with local laws regarding self defence.

Self defence classes are useful in protecting oneself from any threat or violence and to prepare ourselves to deal with actual life situations.

From learning to assess our surroundings, identifying danger, and knowing what to do when confronted with a potential threat, along with physical combat techniques and valuable de-escalation skills, it is essential to call oneself fully prepared.

Therefore, it is important to invest in some sort of self-defence training for all our children, especially in today’s date and time.

Apart from being a helpful skill for many vulnerable young children without structure and supervision, while being susceptible to a host of potential threats and negative influences, self-defence classes have many other tremendous benefits.

At Sherwood high we believe that along with choosing the right school for your children these extra curricular and necessary sports activities and classes are of paramount importance in their holistic well-being. We’ll be looking at some of the many benefits that come along with teaching our children self defence in this blog.

1. Discipline:

It is not one of the simplest lessons to learn in life, as children are bound to certain limitations while growing up. Discipline, self-control, respect and honour are part of self-defence classes, so besides building physical fitness, children also learn valuable life lessons they need to become upstanding and successful adults. Developing self discipline along with being motivated, focused and dedicated is an essential ingredient to learn any self-defence skill.

Many parents vouch for seeing a significant improvement in their child’s behaviour immediately after a couple of sessions of self-defence training, as their children exhibit improved focus and concentration.

2. Confidence:

By helping children learn the skills required to protect themselves at any given time, we are helping them build confidence. Self-confidence in this context is learning to transform their fear during the event of an attack to their advantage by transforming it positively.

Acquiring skills which will make them a formidable opponent to an aggressive threat will not only help them effectively stand up for themselves and others when required, but will definitely make them feel more confident and raise their self-esteem.

It is also important to consider the aspect of the sport being considerably physically demanding, while learning any complex skill such as self defence requires intense focus and practice, it also helps them learn to not give up easily and learning that perseverance is important in order to perfect certain moves through repetition. This will in turn help children feel confident when reaching goals and achieving milestones along with helping boost self-confidence and self image.

3. Physical fitness:

Today’s pandemic has left many children confined indoors and sedentary distractions these days are far too many. The CDC recommendation is that children aged 6 to 17 get an hour of physical activity per day at the least.

As growing children need necessary exercise, physical defence classes are one way of keeping your child moving and to help them use every part of their body to a healthy level of physical fitness.

Along with increasing your child’s overall health and wellness, these self-defence classes could help your child gain better control over their bodies, while also building muscle mass and strength. Other benefits or better development of hand eye coordination: a higher understanding of general autonomy along with a refined balance and agility.

Another aspect of physical fitness is physical conditioning, which is incredibly important while learning self-defence skills as they work on your child’s reflexes and their awareness of an attack in any unfortunate unseen situation, making them more focused mentally and physically.

4. Improved social skills:

It is a well-known fact that friendships develop in classes that children take together over time, and self-defence is one such art form that teaches students to trust and rely on one another. Yes, the classes involve training children to fight each other, but the key point is also to keep each other as safe as possible while fighting and also trusting the opponent to do the same.

Trust is a quality that allows children to form bonds with other children of their age quite well, as they are able to open up to others a lot more than they would otherwise have.

Also, improved self-confidence and self-esteem that comes along with practising self defence, as we’ve seen in the above points, which also helps children connect and make friends more easily.

5. Awareness:

One of the most integral parts of any self-defence training is to take a practical stance towards danger.

With the help of these classes, children learn to recognise and can avoid dangerous situations because they are taught to be aware of everything around them.

This awareness is not only essential to avoid stranger danger, or be aware of safe and unsafe touch, but is also important in commonly occurring everyday situations like crossing busy streets, possible fire hazards, etc.

This is especially relevant at the present digital age, where children are filled with constant digital stimulation and are often unsure of certain serious situations, leading to their failure to notice otherwise seamless but dangerous situations. However, children that take self-defence classes are not naïve to the ways of the captivating digital world and so they are always alert!

To Conclude:

Apart from these above mentioned benefits, there are also many other benefits like improved posture, improved levels of self-control, decrease in stress levels, better spatial concepts, being more responsible, and also a better sense of self and greater mental peace.

As young children are not as mature as adults, their malleable body and minds require extensive guidance, which we as parents should do in a well thought out and thoroughly researched manner.

So do not think twice before you invest in any of the many self defence classes, like karate, kickboxing, taekwondo, etc to improve your kids’ physical strength, mental abilities, confidence levels, self-discipline and so on. Go right ahead and get that enrollment done!