Yahoo Finance Here’s How BJJ Can Help Your Child’s Development
Signing up your child for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) classes provides lifelong benefits. They learn essential life skills like discipline, perseverance, and dedication, which often stay with them for the rest of their lives.
They get to interact with children of all ages during their classes, building up social skills that will come in handy in other aspects of their life.
BJJ classes also help to improve your child’s confidence. That reduces the risk of them becoming victims to bullies. Martial arts like BJJ also teach kids non-violent ways to stick up for themselves and stand up to bullies.
Benefits of signing up your child for BJJ classes
Let us take a detailed look at some of the ways learning BJJ gives your child skills that promote healthy development during their young and adult years.
1) Teaches important life lessons
It’s easy to tell a child hard work pays off, but there’s a good chance that goes in one of their ears and out the other as soon as you say it. Children respond better when you show things to them.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu teaches children the importance of hard work as they develop into martial artists. Every child starts as a white belt, and they might find themselves struggling with some techniques. Over time, many of these techniques become as easy as walking for the child, and they realise the countless times they drilled the technique paid off.
Over time, the child’s arsenal of techniques grows, and they might even get promoted to a higher belt. Martial art belt ranking systems are an effective way to show children the rewards of all their training. It provides a visual representation of all the work the child has put in with their training.
The importance of hard work isn’t the only life lesson BJJ teaches kids. Perseverance is essential to excel at martial arts since you have to be willing to drill techniques hundreds of times before they become part of your muscle memory.
Training also improves a child’s ability to pay attention in learning environments. Training requires the child to sit still and be quiet as the instructor explains techniques and drills.
2) Protects against bullies
Bullying is one of the most significant issues children face, and Singapore currently has the third-highest bullying rates globally.
Study a few bullies, and a clear pattern begins to emerge. Bullies tend to be cowards who pick on weak or socially isolated children. That’s why you rarely hear about the kid who is the football team captain getting bullied. That kid is likely in great shape, and they have lots of teammates who back them up if they confront a bully.
Bullies like things easy, so they typically look for the path of least resistance.
Martial arts makes children more confident, and it helps to develop their social skills. That on its own helps to protect children against bullies. Like Evolve MMA’s Little Samurai Children’s Program, a good BJJ kids program also teaches children helpful ways to stand up to bullies without getting into a physical confrontation.
3) Pulls them away from their electronic devices
One of the biggest complaints modern parents have is how challenging it can be to get their children off their smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles. Nowadays, children are bombarded with so much technology it can lead to them developing unhealthy habits early on in life.
Physical activity has always been good for kids, but you have to pull them away from their devices first.
Martial arts like BJJ can provide a fun, engaging physical activity a child enjoys more than playing with electronic toys. The child develops a passion for BJJ, which means they have less time to spend on unproductive activities like browsing their phones.
4) Improved social skills
Some children struggle with learning how to socialise, and BJJ classes can help them overcome that hurdle. BJJ classes give children an opportunity to mingle with kids of all ages outside of school or extra-curricular activities.
That can be the difference-maker for a child who struggles with forming friendships with their peers due to issues like shyness.
Martial arts like BJJ provide a fun learning environment that allows even the timidest children to come out of their shells. The improved social skills they learn during classes will carry over to other activities, and it will remain helpful as they grow into adulthood.
Children who lack social skills have a higher risk of being the target of bullies. That can cause mental issues that stay with the child for the rest of their lives, like low self-esteem.
5) Keeps their bodies and minds healthy
You probably heard this old saying a few times before, “A healthy body leads to a healthy mind.” This isn’t something older people tell children to get them to engage in more physical activities. It’s backed by science.
Exercise leads to feel-good hormones like dopamine being secreted in the brain, improving a child’s mood and protecting them against mental disorders.
BJJ is one of the most touted martial arts when it comes to how much it works the body. Training burns lots of calories, helping your child to maintain a healthy weight. It gives them something productive to do that’s great for their mental health, so they don’t spend all day on their phones doing bad things for their mental health like excessive social media use.
6) Teaches personal responsibility
Learning BJJ teaches children they are responsible for the outcomes they get in life. If they train hard and commit to their training, they might notice themselves improving faster than kids who seem to be more naturally gifted.
When the child loses while rolling (sparring) or competing, they are taught to take personal responsibility for their outcome by going over things they could have done differently and working on their weaknesses.
As a result, the child is more likely to grow into an adult that takes responsibility for their actions and learns from their mistakes.
This article, "Here’s How BJJ Can Help Your Child’s Development", originally appeared on Evolve MMA, Asia’s No. 1 martial arts organisation.
