Does Karate help with discipline? Absolutely! Children’s karate classes provide children with a healthy and positive outlet that will teach good habits for kids. The benefits of martial arts for kids cannot be understated, as it builds discipline, harnesses their emotions, and teaches them how to resolve conflict with their words rather than abrasive actions while still giving them the tools to defend themselves.

What is Karate?

Karate is a predominantly striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and open-hand techniques to defend oneself in physical conflict. This ancient art has become modernized in the 20th century and has become one of America’s most popular activities because of the positive effects it has on confidence and life skills in children.

Why is Karate Popular Among Children?

Children love physical activity, and from the outside looking in, martial arts is something that they find fascinating. Those movements and impactful strikes encourage children everywhere to give Karate a chance. Famous martial artists such as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and J. Pat Burleson inspired generations of martial artists and created movies and shows that reached critical acclaim. Those mediums inspired other media that continue to this day.

In short, fighting has always appealed to children in one form or another, however, we use Karate to channel that desire into something positive, productive, and intuitive to develop good habits for kids. Karate is also a good alternative for kids who find baseball, football, and basketball uninteresting. And for youth who like traditional sports, karate has proved to enhance athletic ability because of the body control and flexibility that martial arts develop.  

How Does Karate Build Better Habits for Children?

Does Karate help with discipline? Yes. Are the benefits of martial arts for kids able to teach them discipline and good habits? Absolutely. Karate teaches several good habits for kids, with many more developing through social interaction and a group setting.

Promotes Responsibility

One of the most significant benefits of martial arts for kids is developing personal responsibility. Children’s karate classes require students to arrive dressed appropriately, with belts and other accessories needed to train. There is no blaming their parents or other students for forgetting their gear. It teaches children to hold themselves accountable.

Martial arts also has a curriculum that needs to be learned at every belt level in which children learn how to be responsible and practice for their next belt test.  Because these kids are so excited to be promoted to the next level it teaches them that preparation, work and responsibility are a good thing and prepares them for life at school or future employment.

Encourages Commitment

Children’s karate classes reward children with belts for each milestone they complete. This successive, repetitive advancement encourages children to stay committed to their martial arts classes. These establish good habits for kids, as they will not want to miss out on “ranking up” no matter what. The focus on commitment teaches children never to give up and always to keep progressing forward.

Praises Discipline

The benefits of martial arts for kids are that it praises discipline and rewards focus. For students, it takes discipline to perform many of the moves, strikes, and motions practiced in children’s karate classes. They know not to let anything distract them from completing their goals. They learn to be better listeners, to ignore distractions and focus on the task at hand.  All of this creates good habits for kids.

Harnesses Emotions

Karate is not about angry and reckless behavior, but kids can use those emotions to harness physical strength. Karate requires all who practice it to control their emotions and make precise strikes without letting their emotions cause them to hurt someone else recklessly.

If your child is having trouble expressing their emotions or not finding a suitable way to channel their feelings, the benefits of martial arts for kids start to show themselves. The dojo is a healthy, safe, and relaxing place where people can turn negative energy into positive change and retain that positive energy.

Learn to Resolve Conflict

The first rule of Karate is that it is not to be used to harm someone else. Karate is a martial art that focuses on defending oneself from harm. If given the opportunity, all students should seek to resolve conflicts with words and reason rather than force and only use the tools they learned in Karate to defend themselves if words and logic have failed.

Children tend not to handle conflict well because they have not experienced much of it. The benefits of martial arts for kids are the conflict resolution options. Karate teaches a child to approach a situation with the intent to diffuse a situation with words and safe actions. Physical interactions are reserved only as a last resort.

Builds Confidence

Children struggle with confidence issues. It can be for a multitude of reasons, but the benefit of martial arts for kids is it helps them build new confidence through consistent achievement and by developing a sense of self-efficacy.

As children work hard to earn their next belt it teaches them that hard work is rewarded by success and that sense of achievement builds confidence and carries over to school and other areas of their life.  The martial arts student knows they are good at something and it helps children believe in themselves.

Additionally, even though we teach our children and youth to avoid physical conflict, there is something reassuring to know that if someone does try to harm them, they have the skills to protect themselves.  That quiet confidence becomes a part of who they are and is absolutely invaluable.

Higher confidence improves a child’s ability to persevere in adversity. Instead of cutting themselves down and participating in negative self-talk about themselves, children turn that energy into confidence that keeps them feeling good and positive about themselves and the people around them.

Improves Coordination

Children can often be clumsy, just like adults because coordination doesn’t just happen by itself. One of the significant benefits of martial arts for kids is the hand-eye coordination necessary to execute karate moves. Karate uses the whole body and requires students to actively think about every twist, turn, and lunge precisely. Additionally, it has long been agreed that martial arts is perhaps the top balance developing activities available.

It has the added benefit of helping children become more aware of their surroundings and understands the distance between their hands and their eyes and vice versa. It can later be transplanted into other sports and the workplace as they grow older.

Where Can Your Child Learn Karate?

National Karate in the western suburbs of Chicago has provided youth and adult martial arts, self-defense classes, and cardio kickboxing for over 25 years. Although we have talked a lot about the benefits of martial arts for kids, anyone can wear the uniform and enjoy the benefits of martial arts. 

Whether you need martial arts lessons for your children or yourself, we look forward to hearing from you. Check out our history here and see how our founders, Mr. Worley and Mr. Carnahan, helped shape martial arts in America.