I just signed my 6 year old daughter up for Karate classes because I have heard that it teaches discipline and teaches them to pay attention. Has anyone tried it with their child, and has it been helpful? Thanks

my son was about 8 when he did it, he did okay. My son has ADD /LD so it wasn't as big of a help as we thought as he had so much trouble remembering the kata's. He knew the moves individually, but to remember them as a kata he was lost. He did get to a orange belt but with us building a house, and a new school, schedules along with his disinterest caused us to stop.

I feel if your daughter has ADD, then it would help. It is a great disipline as long as the teacher is good with children and knows how to work w/ADD children. They can't always stand still, so make sure she won't be punished for that. The original teacher we had was brutal on my boys. They had physical punishments if they moved when they weren't suppose to.

WATCH closely and stay and observe untill you are caomfortable with the instructors habits. Do it when your daughter can't see you as kids are more apt to behave differently when they think you are not watching,and you can truly see how the class is taught.

Good Luck !!

Susan

Thanks, Susan for your input. I am just curious - what type of physical punishment could ever be administered today? I thought that all that was behind us, but maybe not? (Just one more thing to worry about!) I will stay for the lessons. Although Olivia seems to be mild to moderate ADHD, and usually doesn't act out or run away from public places, I always stay with her just in case. At home, it's a different story. She always left the house without permission (even though I always kept a very close eye on her, and keep Christmas bells on the door year round.) My husband and I caught her yesterday and today riding her bike in the street. Thank God we were just moments behind her and nothing happened. I guess that it is the typical impulsive behavior? Any thoughts on that? Thanks once again for your help. Mary Charlotte

My son started Taekwondo last July. Two main reasons: for him to get the excess energy out of his system and be healthy; secondly, I thought he will benefit from the discipline and sense of belonging to a group. This is working great for him!! He has recently tested and moved to yellow belt. He won two gold and one silver in a recent state wide competition. His self esteem is great when it comes to TKD, this is something he can be proud of. He talked a lot during TKD class when he first started. He did not listen well and did not stop talking immediately when he was asked, so he was punished a couple of times. Once he has to leave behind his sparring backpack (which is a pride for him to earn that) and once he has his mouth tapped (which I found a little too hursh, but I was not there when this happened). But, he really learned his lesson and he is very very discipline since then, does not talk during class, shows respect and never play around when he is at the TKD class. Another punishment that the instructor sometimes uses is to do push up. But he really does not punish the kids easily. The instructor knows my son is diagnosed with ADHD and he is nice and caring but firm with my son. He is Korean and very discipline in nature. I think it is a good idea to stay around as your girl is still too young.

My son started Taekwondo just one month ago. So far, so good. As another poster stated earlier, a lot has to do with the instructor, so be sure to stay and observe several classes. My son's instructor is wonderful. She is patient, but also very strict - this is where the discipline is learned. As for the physical punishment. She has the kids run laps or do pushups when they misbehave. I'm very proud of my son for sticking with it for so long. The instructor has told me that he is a great student. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif Best of luck to you and your child.

Hi! My 8 year old ADHD/Tourette's son started karate a year and a half ago. He just recently succeeded in his test for his purple belt first degree (it has a blue stripe!) This is a great discipline for children with ADHD/ADD. Not only can they run and get their energies out it also makes them transition to meditation where they have to sit and focus. I use some of the karated strategies at home as well in trying to get my son to focus. He has an awesome teacher who repeatedly tells them "they can do anything they set their mind to, and they can control the focus of their mind and their body". This is great! I highly recommend it for anybody and my almost 5 year old just started taking in January and just passed his test for his yellow belt. He shows no signs at this point of ADD or ADHD but he loves doing it and it has been such a great thing for his older brother.

My 12 y/o ADD'er also takes Tae Kwon Do... I can't say enough positive things about it. Finally, something he can be so proud of... he's an orange belt now, soon to test for green. He seems to hyperfocus during the class, gets annoyed when the other kids act up. He is totally engrossed. His teacher is Korean too, very strong discipline... when someone doesn't follow the rules, they are verbally admonished...reminded of who is the master, that sort of thing. This is done in front of the class, so nothing further is usually needed (this goes for adults as well!) If it persists, they run laps. Once I saw 2 kids washing all the mirrored walls. I must say that we started TKD when Gunnar was around 6 and had to quit due to his aggressive behavior at home. Maturity has done a lot for that, we just started back up last fall.

Hi. I will be graduating soon with my university B.S. I have the experience of growing up with ADD; that was unrecognized and untreated until I figured things out for myself just recently. One extracurricular activity that has the potential to help children develop sharp concentration and develop their minds well for learning academics is gymnastics. A quality program will be fun, safe, and geared toward children. One plus, is that USA Gymnastics, the country's governing body has begun to encourage that coached become educated about ADD and ADHD, and some coaches are experienced with and intelligent about considering specific needs. Often, kids of different ages are grouped by level of gymnastic development, and this gives them a chance to belong and work with other children, sometimes encouraging a friendship opportunity that would otherwise not have been encountered. There are usually both boys programs and girls programs to be found, depending on where you live. It seems that the midwest has perhaps more gymnastic facilities than other areas of the US. Anyway, it's maybe a good consideration.

gelophin....

I agree that that may be a better choice as it gets the energy out and they are not being punished if they can't stand still along with physical improvements. I never gave that a thought when my boys were young enough to try it.Everyone kept telling me how wnderful Karate was. I thought it was okay...never fantastic.

To all that it works for I think it is GREAT. I say do what ever works for your child. You know best http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

But just a great thought. Thanks for sharing.

Susan