The Start of Something Great

I started my adventure in karate on September 16, 2010 when my 8 year old son joined. I have wanted to get him involved in some form of martial arts for quite some time. I have heard great things about the benefits of martial arts on children with ADHD and believe it would be of great benefit to my son who so desperately wants to be able to control himself more than he is capable of. Martial arts helps children with ADHD to break down the process of doing things and follow the steps. You have to concentrate on each individual step in order to do the technique correctly. The sport also requires a great deal of self dicipline. Going to class just one day a week will never make you a great martial artist. You must commit your own time away from class to practice your techniques and work on balance, endurance and strength. This is probably the most frustrating aspect of having a child like this in karate. As long as he is in class or in the ring sparring (which he would rather be doing the whole time) he loves karate. At home is another story. He still wants to be in karate; he just doesn't want to take time away from his play in order to practice. I force him to practice at least one additional day a week. My son is now a green belt (the fourth belt level) and still going strong (even with little effort). I cannot say that it has helped him with the ADHD yet but everything takes time and we haven't even been in karate for a year.