Bored Kids This Summer? What About Karate Classes?!

The same thing happens every year at this time. Summer break from school starts; soccer season ends; they play the last of their baseball games. It's time for some nice peace and quiet and for the kids to rest up. But after a week or so, the same thing happens. Kids come to their parents, "I'm bored!". One great solution for families is karate classes for children.

The benefits of kids participating in structured activities are numerous. Three big benefits the children participating in karate classes include: 1) encouraging healthy behaviors to prevent childhood obesity, 2) developing motor skills, coordination, and movement, and 3) structured activities improve mood and self-esteem.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. In addition, in 2012 more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese. This "obesity epidemic" is going to cause many problems for many children in the near and far future. Obesity has been linked to cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. With this in mind, it's more important than ever to teach our children the importance of getting a healthy amount of exercise and to keep fit bodies. Beginner martial arts classes at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute are great for just that. Each class is sixty action-packed minutes of cardio and strength training. While learning to kick in punch, they are also getting their bodies into good, healthy shape.

The children's classes at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute are great for developing motor skills, coordination and movement. Students learn to kick, punch and block from various stances, utilizing nearly every muscle in the body. They are also put into complex patterns known as forms or poomse (patterned movement), which increase with difficulty as a student progresses through the belts. This develops the motor coordination for students, which will in turn help them with other aspects of their lives.

The benefits of karate classes for kids, however, don't just stop with the physical ones. There are many, many mental benefits too. Our classes teach students to be more respectful and courteous, but they also help students improve their mood and become more confident. According to a paper at the University of Connecticut, students who practiced martial arts felt to be more outgoing, comfortable, stronger and controlled. This will stay with children their whole lives, and will affect them throughout school, college and into their professional careers and adulthood.

So the next time one of your children comes to you bored, or expresses interest in learning martial arts, give us a call at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute. We offer beginner martial arts classes for toddlers, children, teens and adults at each of our Colorado locations: Lakewood, Littleton, Westminster, Golden and Conifer. Give us a call or you can request more information right here on our website. We look forward to serving you!

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Sources:
http://www.sparkpe.org/blog/the-benefits-of-structured-physical-activity-for-early-childhood-programs/

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/AAI3340459