Karate and self-esteem

Self-esteem is the idea or “picture” we have of ourselves – who we are, what we’re capable of, and what we can be. It is built over time as we get to know ourselves through experience and feedback. It needs to be nurtured from a very young age for a kid to be able to grow into an adult who believes in himself or herself. Parents should take steps to ensure their children develop a positive self-image and self-respect. One of the most fun and effective ways to help children – even pre-schoolers – to develop a healthy level of self-esteem is through challenge and achievement in a structured physical and mental activity such as martial arts.

Karate has levels or ranks represented by belts of various colors and other uniform insignia. Each rank typically has a number of moves that must be learned to proceed to the next level. Forms (movement patterns) challenge students to memorize a sequence of techniques, targets, and direction changes at each rank. Free sparring or controlled combat against similarly-sized training partners (as well as seniors and teachers) helps students to fine-tune motor skills, reflexes, and strategic thinking.

This process of learning, practicing, competing with, and showcasing karate skills – starting at an early age – can have a tremendously positive effect on the self-esteem of practitioners.

• Testing and advancing through ranks can be a memorable, confidence-boosting ‘personal victory’.
• Praise and attention from instructors helps them feel good about themselves and their abilities to learn and achieve.
• Not advancing in rank following an unsatisfactory testing performance (i.e. receiving a “no change”) encourages children to try harder and work to reach goals.
• Scoring points or winning a free sparring bout gives students a sense of security and self- protection.
• A properly executed form reinforces the self-esteem gained from incremental learning.

All this eventually leads to a better self-image and a positive attitude that endures throughout childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood.

Other benefits of karate for pre-schoolers and older kids


Besides helping build self-esteem and self-defense skills, karate can help nurture “tiny tots” in a number of other ways to help them become healthy, self-reliant, and responsible young people. Martial arts practitioners are known to improve these traits and others:

• Discipline
• Confidence
• Physical fitness
• Teamwork
• Listening
• Respect

Despite the popular misconception and hype portrayed in popular cinema, the martial arts are not strictly about violence. In fact, most martial artists learn to restrain their tempers and refrain from unleashing their powerful physical skills. Rather, martial arts offer a treasure trove of life lessons and tangible benefits for most students that reach far beyond the training facility to improve the lives of those who train and the lives of those around them.

Karate to boost self-confidence

Self-confidence is the ability to trust yourself and your abilities. For that, you need to first know what you are capable of physically, mentally, and emotionally. To know this, it is essential that you push your limits on a regular basis to see how much you can take. Pushing yourself just a little bit more each workout is the key to extending and expanding your capabilities over time. Since karate and some related martial art forms are essentially about self-improvement of mind, body, and spirit, training is a natural, reliable, and enjoyable way to gain self-confidence.

You can train your kids to practice pushing their limits from a young age, so they learn to give their best in every life situation. Get them started young, in their pre-school years if possible, to reap maximum benefits of karate. These early, formative years are important times for developing bodies and minds. Parents appreciate the physical fitness, good manners, and new friendships formed by their children being in karate.

Karate involves progression from one level to the next, each level corresponding to various
belt colors going from white to black. Each successive rank includes a number of simple and complex moves that must be learned and properly performed, with tests to be passed, to be graduated in rank and belt color. Classes also include free sparring in protective safety gear with peers and seniors to develop students’ self-defense skills.

Karate classes can help children know themselves better and build their self-confidence in many ways.

• Passing a skill test gives a sense of accomplishment.
• Sparring develops and tests strategy, speed, agility, and endurance.
• Praise and positive feedback – and continual progress in the martial arts skills, visible in
  each student’s moves and techniques over time – are motivating results!
• Getting to the next level and belt color can be a major milestone.
• It can be a major tool against bullying, helping your kids defend themselves and be safe.

Knowing themselves and improving their abilities give your children the priceless gifts of self- confidence and self-reliance. They learn to have positive attitudes, goals, patience, and other virtues that are especially helpful when trying new things, dealing with problems and setbacks, and facing life’s challenges head-on.


Other benefits of learning karate

The fun practice of karate offers even more benefits to both children and adults who participate regularly. It can teach them many skills and instill leadership traits, in addition to improving their self-confidence.

• Discipline
• Physical fitness
• Social skills
• Respect
• Listening
• Self-esteem

Giving kids the opportunity to learn karate, or any martial arts form, might be the most formative, beneficial, and enduring gift you can give your child besides your love and care. Training, learning, winning, losing, and trying again through the interesting and motivating practice of karate will help them develop good habits and self-confidence. This often results in young people becoming positive, strong, responsible, and confident adults who are ready to take on life as leaders.

Developing the ability to concentrate on particular tasks is absolutely critical for success in today’s over-stimulated, distracting environments, and those who do so at an early age have a leg up on their peers. By the time a child begins schooling, he or she needs to have developed cognitive ability that will allow him or her to perform tasks that may take a prolonged period of time. Consequently, developing focus and concentration at the pre-school level is very important. Here are some practical tips for parents to help their child or children develop concentration.

Creating a Plan

One of the best ways that a parent can go about measuring a child’s concentration levels is by creating a plan and a schedule. Over time, they should monitor their children and record whether and how much progress is being made. Once a plan has been created, parents should present logic or “thinking” tasks such as age-appropriate puzzles to their children, and encourage them to work on them for as long as possible.

Step By Step Approach

Initially, it is “normal” for a child may to have the ability to focus on a particular challenge for just a few minutes before giving up. However, parents should encourage their children to build their concentration, by ensuring that they stick to a task a little bit longer than they did in the past. This must be done in small steps to ensure that the child does not become exhausted or excessively frustrated. As time goes by, a child will naturally build concentration spans that hold them in good stead as they study further. It is also a good idea to get your toddler enrolled for karate classes. This will help in improving your child’s concentration power a great deal.

Rewards

It is also extremely important for children to feel rewarded for the work they have put into developing their mental faculties. Sincere and specific praise is a good example. At the next stage, parents might challenge their children to complete a puzzle, game, or task in a certain number of days while offering a greater incentive, such as the promise of a desirable toy or an
extra hour of television. Rewarding the child is entirely up to the parents as long as the reward is real and ultimately fulfilled when the challenge is complete.

When we provide a structured environment for our children, we’re basically allowing them to figure out how the world works. They learn how to deal with failures and disappointments, as well as their powers and limitations. It gives them an opportunity to adopt skills and develop positive traits and habits that will be very useful to them in the long run.

How to provide a structured environment

The basic component of a structured environment is discipline. Expectations are clear. Misbehavior has consequences. Goals are set and met. Routine and order are upheld. Clearly, younger children require much more direct guidance than older ones. As a parent, it is your responsibility to decide how your child spends his or her time, and to arrange for his or her participation in wholesome learning activities. The earlier they learn to control themselves, obey rules, and show integrity and good manners, the stronger the results will be from their self-discipline becomes as they mature and set higher goals. Freedom and trust can be earned and re-earned gradually as they progress in maturity, stature, awareness, and responsibility.

Introducing a routine into your child’s life can help him or her become more disciplined and give them the ability to face challenges as they grow older. Change is an inevitable part of life and children experience many changes throughout their childhood. A fixed routine can give them a sense of comfort, predictability, and security. Once they master a particular routine, they can go on to try more challenging ones.

Karate as a structured environment

Karate is an excellent way to introduce a little structure into your child’s life. Karate is a highly disciplined art form that teaches students of all ages, especially kids, to control their focus at all times. Karate classes teach your children to respect authority, understand the risks and consequences of disobedience, and the importance of sticking to a routine. Karate follows strict rules concerning authority that are similar to the military. Your child will be taught to follow the teacher’s demonstrative instructions, and practice each move with sincerity until it can be replicated independently. This kind of self-discipline repeated over and over is value that will truly be beneficial to them in the long run. Karate teaches children that a disciplined approach is the only way to overcome challenges and limitations.

Unending support

The first mistake a parent should avoid making is to simply give up hope, shrug his or her shoulders, and abandon a child who is suffering academically. Some parents are quick to write off their children’s grades, often claiming that their children are “not built for school” or “do not take exams well” or “just have a poor teacher this year.” It is both the child’s and parents’ responsibility to ensure that he she performs as well as possible in school, and communicates frequently with the teachers on progress and concerns.

Something that parents need to understand is that children value things differently than adults. As adults with experience, it is quite apparent to us that one’s opportunities will depend on the grades that one gets. However, some children may not have the ability to see academics in that way and set goals for themselves. They can’t visualize the end result – or plot and stay on a course to get there. Creating value for academics begins with helping children understand where their interests lie, and setting goals to achieve what they’re willing to work for. Once this is understood, then a child may need very little of any kind of external motivation.

Understand your child

In certain cases, children may just go through the motions at school in a very mechanical manner, without particularly trying to understand the value of an education. The best way to help a child improve his or her grades is by helping to develop an interest in the subjects being taught. When a child is able to apply what he or she is learning at school in their day-to-day lives, they will naturally begin to understand its worth far better. As such, parents must take time to make a significant personal investment into their children’s education to help better their grades. You can try enrolling your child for karate classes for a wide range of life-changing benefits to mental and physical health. Karate helps children improve their concentration and focusing power, which will ultimately lead to better grades. Teachers frequently remark on the differences and
advancements they observe in children who become “karate kids.”

Karate and discipline

The rigorous training and practice that is involved in various martial art styles instills values
of honesty and hard work among children, adolescents, and teens. As children interact in close quarters, they steadily learn from classmates how to improve their moves along with their speech and behavior. They learn the necessity of rules and importance of making loyal, honorable choices in every sphere of life, which helps with their self-discipline too.

In free sparring practice, students develop the power to concentrate, anticipate, and even influence their opponents’ moves to avoid being “hit” or “scored upon” – then respond with a swift, well-rehearsed counter-attack. A quality karate for kids program helps students of all ages develop the power to think quickly to achieve victory, to shut out distractions, and to concentrate on work at hand for longer periods of time.

Karate and courtesy

By learning to show courtesy and respect for their teachers and classmates, children learn
to appreciate abilities of each other and hone their personal skills. This develops a sense of cooperative learning and kind consideration for each other. The simple acts of bowing to teachers and training partners, raising a hand to speak, holding a particular stance until instructed to move, and so on develops an awareness that spawns courteous and respectful behavior, which oftentimes is returned. Respect, gratitude, humility, and duty are moral concepts and values central to the philosophies of certain traditional martial art forms.
Karate and personality

Children and adults learning karate are advised to follow a healthy, balanced diet to help them meet personal physical goals for health and well-being. The training programs are a mix of fun and learning, with a seemingly endless supply knowledge and proficiency to acquire, which keeps the interest and motivation for progress thriving. With a little practice, most students become accomplished both physically and mentally in diverse ways and “personal victories.” Karate enhances balance and control over posture, body language, and body movements. It has the capability of improving the self-image, the outlook, and the personality of an individual which often leads to new paths of opportunity and growth.

Children who learn karate from a young age become leaders over a period of time as their self- confidence and proficiency grows. In time they show readiness to take on responsibility and their off to the races! A firm foundation in respect and courtesy is a magnificent starting point and touchstone for all people everywhere.

1. immediate, fateful circumstance (as in rising to a unique occasion)
2. decades of hard-won experience, or
3. dedicated, deliberate, and enjoyable training in a qualified program

The importance of confidence

One of the most important traits of an effective leader is self-confidence. It is certainly true that some children are more confident in their thoughts and actions than others. Confidence is important because precisely because the perception of one’s self is contagious! If one individual is able to display confidence in a thought or idea among a group of people, it sets the premise for relationships based on trust to be developed. However, it is also important to remember that confidence is not the only trait that a leader requires. In some cases, over-confidence or blind confidence can hold a leader back. Enrolling your child for karate classes at a young age is a good way to make them confident and self-reliant.

Do as I do, not as I say

Another factor to remember is that leaders typically don’t begin as “leaders” who give out instructions and command people to perform tasks and actions. The best leaders first experiences performing these actions himself or herself – as a follower – so that he or she can understand the effort and skill required. In doing so, a leader will increase his or her effectiveness in communicating and empathizing with team members under him and getting best results.

Another key trait that all leaders need is decision-making ability. This seems oddly difficult for many adults and most children! A leader must be able to view a situation and analyze it completely before developing a plan to tackle it, without falling prey to “paralysis of analysis.” Decisiveness is perhaps the most important trait of a leader, as it will determine whether a team is successful or not. Confidence in following through with a plan is important, but a calm, informed mind to make sound decisions is absolutely imperative for ultimate success and ROI.

Developing these traits is no easy job. Children can often feel uncomfortable or frightened when placed in leadership positions initially. However, many karate for kids programs make the training appealing to each age groups – playful for some, strictly disciplined for others – so that the leadership lessons are absorbed and experienced in several ways. In time, leadership practice feels more natural and fun, something to look forward to! As a parent, it is extremely important to encourage and motivate a child who takes on the added responsibility of being a leader, even if he or she may not succeed at first. Your karate instructors will be glad to help you and your child address training goals and needs too. Anyone can be a leader with dedication and practice at a qualified instructional facility with caring, capable teachers.

“Do your best and hope for the rest.” A common quote that most of us have heard at some point in our lives, but how much sense does it really make in a world where people have managed to foolishly convince themselves that they can all achieve the same levels of success? The answer is “not much.” Sadly, this is the world our children are also growing up in. The pressure on them to fit in and be as good as or better than the other person, to earn more, have more, go more, and so on is an unfortunate mainstay in our consumerism driven society.

Each child is unique

The cold, hard truth is that all of us do not have the same talents or qualities. In the whole mixed and segmented mass of humanity throughout our existence, it is amazing to know that each of us is unique and special in our own way. Each beloved child is unique as well, and has his or her own potential and capabilities. Some are smart, some are artistic, and some are athletic.

The key to your finding and unlocking their area of excellence is two-fold: first, to allow them to try different things throughout their formative years, from little ones to maturing teens. Until they try, they will never really know what they’re good at! Secondly, we must acknowledge and fulfill our role as the provider of those opportunities (to experiment in diverse hobbies and activities) as well as the subtle guide, teacher, supporter, and straight- shooter for them along the way.

If we attempt to force our children into be successful at everything they do, the inevitable result is stress, resentment, and a dislike for everything they’re forced to try. We must help them find opportunities, resources, and time to dabble and sample, to mess up and start over, to find their true passions through trial and error. Once an area of interest and potential has been discovered in them, it is our responsibility as parents and teachers to give them as many chances as possible to learn, grow, and perform at their peak ability levels.

Test their capabilities through karate

Enrolling your child for karate classes is a fantastic way to expand your child’s capabilities, interests, character traits, and positive outlook. Karate isn’t just a proven way to defend yourself from bullies and bad guys, though it certainly is that! Karate works on the principles of self-discipline, focus, concentration, patience, and achieving goals. The focus here is not for your child to master the art of karate, but to probe his or her true potential and gain new self-confidence and respect through perseverance and good attitude. Training year-round in a martial art is shown to better their performance in other sports and academics as well!

One of the five core ethics of karate philosophy is “to strive for the perfection of character.” The word ‘strive’ implies that we can only “try” being perfect at something but never really achieve it. However, the greater control of our bodies and minds that we develop, the closer we come to reaching that ultimate goal. It is only when we try our best that we come to know our limits – and set new ones!

Kids’ Karate at Lee's Champion Tae Kwon Do Academy

Parents bring their children to our unique Karate program for a variety of reasons. Our Martial
Arts programs motivate and lead youngsters to slim down, improve their body image, and increase self-esteem. Martial Arts bolsters their self-worth and helps them learn to become opinion leaders,to resist bullying, and to have confidence in themselves. Most importantly to some parents, our Lee's Champion Tae Kwon Do Academy children’s program is a fun and effective means of teaching better self-discipline.

Studying Martial Arts in Mankato area is hard work for anyone. Steady improvement requires pushing one’s self to surpass previous boundaries, whether physical, mental, or otherwise. Our Karate program for kids is an excellent means of instilling appreciation for the results that focus, sincere effort, and perseverance can achieve. Many kids come into our school lacking focus or direction. Some have had minor disciplinary issues at home or school. Kids’ Karate teaches even the most rambunctious to use good manners, follow reasonable rules, give and receive respect, and get along well with others.

Martial Arts are physical disciplines as well as mental. To progress to the next rank or level, one must genuinely apply himself or herself on a regular basis, thereby creating a “good” habit. For students to do well in our kids’ Karate program, they must act with focus and determination which many have never before experienced. Many parents happily observe that, after some time in our Martial Arts program for children, their once misbehaved or discourteous kids begin to carry their new-found focus and determination into other areas of life such as their school work.

Lee's Champion Tae Kwon Do Academy offers a curriculum imbued not only with Martial Arts techniques, but also containing a series of valuable life skills. This system was developed in order to help children develop wholesome, productive values such as respect, courtesy, self-discipline, self-esteem, self-confidence, and listening skills. Results commonly observed by parents whose children participate in the kids’ Karate program include improved grades at school and better social skills when interacting with their peers (such as bullying prevention and peer pressure resistance), siblings, and grown-ups.

Our Martial Arts for children program assists students in three fundamental areas off the martial arts mat: at home, at school, and in social settings. We also invite parents to create their own “wish list” to better allow our instructors to target specific problem behaviors and help minimize or eliminate them. And while our kids program is ideal for teaching kids discipline, most kids stay in the program because it is fun.

If you would like to find out more about how our kids’ Karate program can help empower your child with exemplary self-discipline, call today or complete the contact form and we’ll call you!

Shotokan

Shotokan is a defense mechanism style that teaches some basics, forms, and sparring. It is an authorized style of Karate that stresses powerful strikes, sparring techniques, and long stances designed to end a fight quickly. In short, it teaches you to give devastating blows before your opponent realizes that you are even considering such a move.
The credit for Shotokan karate’s birth and popularity belongs undoubtedly to Gichin Funakoshi. As an elementary school student, he learned both Okinawan karate and Shorin-ryu karate. He compiled techniques from these two styles to form an independent style, which came to be known as Shotokan. The name is a combination of his pen name ‘shoto’ meaning pine waves and ‘kan’ meaning house.

Shito-ryu

Shito-ryu style was founded in by Kenwa Mabuni in 1931. Mabuni learnt Naha-te and Shuri-te from two legendary martial arts experts, Kanryo Higonna and Itosu Anko. The emphasis of both the styles were distinct even though both followed hard-soft format. Mabuni combined the two techniques to formulate Shito-ryu style.
Wado-ryu
The style was founded by Otsuka Hidenori in 1920, a student of Gichin Funakoshi. He combined Okinawan karate’s striking techniques with movements of jujitsu, besides focusing strongly on evasion through body shifting. The style has shorter punches and higher stances than Shotokan.

Goju-ryu

Goju-ryu is an Okinawan karate style founded in 1930s by Miyagi Chojun. The term Goju-rye means ‘hard-soft style,’ which refers to the technique it uses. It uses a combination of closed hand linear motion (hard) and circular motions (soft), which resembles Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang.
The history of the style is somewhat vague due to lack of availability of proper documentation. However it is believed that a Japanese martial arts master called Kanryo Higashionna formulated
the Goju-ryu style. In 1873, he went to China and practiced martial arts from various teachers. Later on he returned to Japan and combined what he learned in China with what he already knew about Okinavan karate to make a new style of his own. After his death, his best student, Chojun Miyagi, continued to develop and refine the style. It was in 1930 that Miyagi decided to christen the style

Goju-ryu.

Karate styles keep emerging over time and geography, hence mapping the exact number of styles is impossible. Styles also vary according to the philosophy and guidance of masters teaching them.