Do you think that starting a martial art will help my five year old to control his play fighting or make it worse?

[geraldinetheluckygoat]

I'm having a few issues with DS1 (5.5) who is struggling to control his behaviour at the moment - losing his temper over small things, over reacting massively, etc.
He and a few other boys in his class are very very into play fighting at school at the moment - super hero play, grappling and wrestling type stuff. He doesn't hurt anyone, and never has been one for hurting, but he does do it at innapproprate times, during class and is starting to get into trouble.

He seems very testosteroney at the moment. It strikes me he has no outlet for this fighty behaiour at the moment.

Im wondering wether joining a martial arts class might help to give him a bit of an outlet for legitimately "figthting" or doing fighty moves in training, but in a safe and controlled way. There is a kick boxing gym near us that has a great reputation for good kids classes and they advertise teaching self control as one of the benefits...

anyone have an opinion on this?? Might it help, or might it encourage him to be even more fighting obsessed?

bumping for morning!

Alot of martial arts clubs require children to be 7 or 8 before they start, as they need to be a bit older to have the coordination to do the moves, and the patience to do the classes. Alot of younger kids find the discipline and repetitiveness of martial arts classes boring.

I would also expect most classes to emphasise that the moves taught were not to be used outside the dojo/gym. Whether your son is old enough to take that on board is another matter.

I would be inclined myself to try and get him involved in other sports that might give him an outlet, until he is a bit older. Do any of his friends do a sport/ It often helps to start with a friend. Football classes often start at about 5 or 6. Leisure centres often do taster sessions of different sports, and he could choose something he liked.

My DCs started martial arts young: one in reception, one in yr1. You need to find aclub with a "tots'" programme, but there are plenty of them about. It is a very disciplined activity, and I'd say it would be spot on for your DS.

Thanks for the advice. I have emailed the tutor of the club I saw, he does do a class for younger kids, and says it is fun but dispiplined, they have a lot of younger boys and girls in the class and he says one of the main focusses of the activity at this age is to help them to have a bit more self control over their bodies.
Thanks for the suggestions Butterbur, he's not really into football or other sports yet tothe point where I think he would want to go to do it after school. I wanted something that will satisfy his need to do fighting moves (I know they wont actually be fighting at this age, but that they will be doing the movements and working with pads and so on) so that he has somewhere he is allowed to do this kind of thing, if that makes sense. The classes are free too so we have nothing to lose, the email from the guy at the club was really spot on with regards to understanding why I was enquiring - they seem to have a strong sense of being positive role models for the kids too. Fingers crossed it might help anyway.

Free class! Or do you mean a free taster?

More than that? Where, where, where?

Hope he likes it!

bump - if you're still about geraldine, were the classes a success for your ds? Am thinking of enrolling ds in a class