In all of my 40 years of teaching martial arts, I've had the privilege of working with literally thousands of children and teenagers. Even still, I continue to be impressed with witnessing the positive impact martial arts can have on them...
However, in recent years I have become aware of a trend that concerns me. Today's children seem to be way less fit than the children I first taught back in the late 70's...and even less fit than a decade ago. Not just that, but they also seem to be more and more prone to injury than in years past.
So by curiosity, I asked a doctor friend of mine about this observation at the time. His comment was that there did in fact seem to be an increasing number of fluke injuries among children. He had also observed that the sedentary lifestyle of today's child appeared to be causing major issues with the way their bodies are developing. When I asked him what he felt our industry could do about this issue, his answer was that kids just need to be more physically active and he thought that Martial Arts was perfect for the young, developing body.
Of course, I couldn’t agree more with my friend. I also believe that for children to develop properly, they need to run, jump, crawl, climb, fall and somersault more frequently-- all things we do in Martial Arts class on a regular basis.
As a parent, I believe that there is nothing more important than working time into your child’s busy schedule for structured Martial Arts training and unstructured, physical play. So the next chance you have, turn off the TV, unplug the phone and get your kids to Martial Arts class, or outside for some good old-fashioned fun. It is within your control to give your child all the tools they need to become a strong, well-developed individual.
