Children's martial arts programs are often touted for their psychosocial benefits. What exactly are these so called psycho-social benefits? They are some of the soft-skills that are difficult to quantify. For example, children's martial programs aim to develop self-esteem, self-confidence, discipline, better grades, improved behavior at home and at school, leadership.
These are all great traits and we hope see them flourish in our children; however, how do we quantify them? That is clearly a difficult questions. But, as parents and educators sometimes we "just know". The value of our experience and perception is more than ticking boxes on a checklist.
That said, developing these qualities is no easy thing to do especially when it comes children with ADD or ADHD.
Let's face it, martial arts is not cure all. Sending your kid to karate class for 45 minutes a week isn't going to do much. We know this. You need to be sending your kids to class 2-3 times per week as part of a comprehensive approach.
Not all martial arts programs that teach kids are Children's Martial Arts programs. In the early days of martial arts schools being opened up to children there was no difference between what was taught to adults and children; more significantly there was no difference in how martial arts were taught to adults and children.
Over time, the instructors saw that this was not appropriate and starting modifying their martial arts curriculum. In reality they were just simplifying, in many cases watering-down the program. But, these were not programs designed for children.
A true children's martial arts program specifically address the stages of development in a child and the four primary components of that development. As a kid moves from pre-school to elementary school to middle school and eventually high school and beyond they grow in 4 areas. The grow physically, intellectually, and emotionally and socially.
Our children's martial arts program (SKILLZ) is specifically designed to guide and motivate a child through these 4 areas from 3 years old to college.
Why is that important?
The challenges and obstacles to success for a child are ever changing and ever increasing. The world is increasingly interconnected and thus competitive, being a high-contributer/performer is more important and more difficult. So, we need to give our children an advantage in this newly competitive and treacherous environment.
What does that have to do with ADD and ADHD?
In psychology, there is a term: "executive function" or "executive control". This is basically the ability to resist distraction and switch between tasks in an efficient and effective way. If you recall, last week I wrote about the "Marshmallow Test". Kids that "passed" the marshmallow test had better executive control and they showed better long term outcomes.
Here's the kicker (yes, pun intended). Physical exercise (not just mental exercise) can improve executive control. How do we know this? Well, recent research shows exactly that.
1. Dr. Charles Hillman and his colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial (the paper is linked here) on the effects of physical activity on a group of children from 7-9 years old. As you might guess, the children in the intervention group (as opposed to the control group) showed higher levels of fitness. Let's not forget about fitness either! However, his conclusion is powerful: "The intervention enhanced cognitive performance and brain function during tasks requiring greater executive control. These findings demonstrate a causal effect of a PA program on executive control, and provide support for PA for improving childhood cognition and brain health." Here "PA" refers to physical activity.
2. Here's another study that compared using Physical Activity vs Sedentary Classroom based interventions for kids ADHD symptoms. Parents and teachers then rated the presentation of the symptoms over a 12 week period. From the abstract: "Primary analyses indicate that the PA intervention was more effective than the SC intervention at reducing inattention and moodiness in the home context. Less conservative follow-up analyses within ADHD status and intervention groups suggest that a PA intervention may reduce impairment associated with ADHD-risk in both home and school domains" The gist: both interventions helped, but it seemed like the exercise intervention helped more.
3. Another 8-week study (link here) that shows "Physical activity shows promise for addressing ADHD symptoms in young children."
4. Remember fitness/weight control is important too. A Swedish study (that replicated the results with data from the United States) found that over-weight / obese teenagers tend to have lower cognitive abilities and acquire fewer skills through life thus affecting their economic outcomes. (link here).
This research shows that physical activity is important to physical health and brain health, yet it is being stripped from our educational systems and our way of life. Kids don't play outside as much as they used, they are distracted by, and in many cases have school obligations to use electronics. So now, not only do we have to combat the entertainment factor of electronics, we have to combat the reality that their education is being driven to the technology itself.
Frankly, to me it is disconcerting that students now have homework assignments specifically designed for the iPad or some other tablet device. I understand that kids need to learn how to use the technology in order to be competitive and relevant; however, the technology is as pervasive as our use of language. Instead of teaching our kids the theory, they whys and how to learn we've become pre-occupied with the mechanics of "doing stuff". They may have some finite skills to complete tasks, but they won't have the fundamental skills to learn and increase their knowledge base on their own and throughout life. This is a long discussion for another day.
We've always known that there is a strong link between the mind and body. In martial arts culture this has always been a given, something we've always accepted. We've known in to be true without the research, from our experience and our perspective. Now, the scientists are coming around as well.
Whether your child is showing symptoms of ADHD or just showing symptoms of being a kids, there are proven long term benefits of martial arts and physical activity for children.
A structured martial arts program is what we need, as parents, to not only fill this deficit but provide our children with the edge they need.
Learn more about our children's martial arts program here: www.dragongym.com
