Tell Get Into Martial Arts about your DCs hobbies – £200 of high street shopping vouchers prize draw NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Get Into Martial Arts have asked us to find out what hobbies your DCs have and how it’s helped them in everyday life.

Here’s what Get Into Martial Arts say, "With so much choice and influence around it can be a real challenge for Parents to decide on, and organise out of school hobbies and activities for their child. Where to start looking?! What will the activity involve? is this purely for fun, or could the children get more out of it – maybe making friends or learning new skills?

“Martial Arts is packed full of benefits for children, and so we’ve made it easy for parents to start the journey towards getting their child involved. On getintomartialarts.com parents can find the Martial Arts school nearest to their home, and better still book a free trial lesson – allowing the child to try it out before deciding to join!"

So, do your DCs have any hobbies? Do you think they also help your DCs in everyday life, or not? Perhaps they have an unusual collection of comic books which you think has helped teach them how to take care of their belongings? Maybe they have taken an interest in building robots which has aided their concentration with certain subjects at school? Or are they taking martial arts lessons which has helped them gain confidence? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it!

Everyone who leaves their comments below will be entered into a prize draw to win £200 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

My 3 DS do athletics, football, swimming, tag rugby and scouts between them.

My 10 year old has swimming lessons and goes to Guides. She also joins in with any lunchtime/after-school club that the school offers - it could be netball, multi-sports, gardening - they change half-termly. As we live on a farm alot of her spare time is spent outside helping her Dad. My 13-year old daughter however has, over the last year, given up swimming lessons and guides, and I struggle to get her to join clubs at school. She is sociable though, and spends lots of time with friends, trips shopping and to the cinema, but spare time is just not as structured as it used to be - I'm sure that's quite normal as children get older. I think hobbies/clubs are important for social reasons - we live in a rural area, and the primary school was very small, so I think it's important they get opportunities to mix with others.

my little girl is a avid collector of beads/gems/anything shiny she can get her hands on. she has a little box of beads and gems she has found.

My DS(6) does various activities and started Judo earlier this year. It is a very inclusive, well run club and the session he attends has all standards and all ages from 5 to adult (and you can't go wrong at £4 a time for 1 1/2 hours!) He loves it and I think it is great for his coordination and self confidence. I was a bit surprised at how physical it was - they really do proper judo knocking-people-to-the-ground-and-pinning-them-there whereas he went to a previous mini-martial-arts franchise style class where there was a lot of handwaving to very little effect But I think it's great - he isn't naturally aggressive and is an only child so I think it does him good to do some wrestling under supervision. Thoroughly recommend it if you can find the right class.

DD does kung fu. It's brilliant, I can't recommend it enough. The leaders make it really fun and they play lots of games. Non-contact til they're 8, which I'm happy with. Great for her posture.

Two of my children do karate. It has been excellent for their fitness and confidence and I would recommend it. However, my advice to parents is to carefully check out clubs, avoid those who expect an upfront payment and extortionate fees.

Most clubs will be happy for you to come along and watch, or try a session.

One particular brand of "non contact karate" is basically a pyramid selling scam where members go door to door trying to recruit members. In our experience people were running clubs with very little experience and having paid for a training course of a couple of months that resulted in a black belt.

My son got injured in this type of club, they couldn't get us out quick enough. According to the physio we saw he was doing exercises not recommended for children. Luckily we found another club which is great.

If you do consider a martial art make sure the club is affiliated to the national and/or international body.

Agree with Dragzena re checking out credentials of club and teacher. Kung Fu was my first choice for DS, but I wasn't impressed by anything nearby. I chose capoeira as the master himself is Brazilian and has been training since he was three, has been teaching in this country ( not UK) for over 20 years, and the club is part of a well - respected Brazilian federation. Although it's not my martial art of choice, I do think that the most important thing is that the trainers really really know what they're doing

My ds does mma and swimming classes. I think there both essential skills to have being a strong swimmer and knowing how to defend yourself. The mma has really boosted his confidence he's a lot more outgoing now. I'm going to start my DT'S in both classes when there old enough.

My DDs 11 and 10 do gymnastics once a week. It's good for their fitness and flexibility. DD2 also loves showing her friends she can do the splits!

my two just like being outside in nature. my eldest always wants to go on adventures abd he cheers when we pull in at a lical nature reserve or park.

My daughter did Tae Kwon Do for a while, which she enjoyed, but her dyspraxia meant she really could not get at all far, despite having a wonderfully supportive teacher. Hobbies - stamp collecting, comic collecting, art are the main things. I think hobbies are fabulous and bring the world to life, extending school's teaching and developing the self.

Ds1 does scouts, free running gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do - fav is prob the Tae Kwon Do as he enjoys the discipline of both the movements and body control. He moved up to seniors at the start of the year and also helps out with the junior class which has done wonders for his confidence.

Dd1 is regional level in gymnastics so trains 4 times a week - she is extremely disciplined and committed almost to the point of obsession. In her "spare" time she reads anything she can get her hands on.

Ds2 has mild learning difficulties and also does Tae Kwon Do which is slowly teaching him to listen and concentrate - he is also leaning to control and slow down his movements in class whereas he lives the rest of his life at 100 miles an hour!

Dd2 does gymnastics and swimming both of which she loves as she is a very physical child who needs to burn off the energy. Hasn't shown any of the commitment of her sister yet thank goodness

Ds (8) would tell you Minecraft is his hobby.

However, he's also in Cubs and really enjoys it. I've thought about some kind of martial art though, because he wants to "be a spy." I'd love for him to be a bit sportier really!

My children do a variety of activities, mainly sporting as DS1 is very active and we need to wear him out.

All the children are learning to swim, it is as a PP said non negotiable. It is potentially life saving, opens up other activities such as kayaking, sailing etc and is great fun especially when on holiday.

DS1 is 7 yo and does karate, he has been doing it for 2 years. He enjoys messing around with other children and I like the discipline, exercise and skills aspect. He also plays football regularly and also does tennis, climbing and drama in the holidays. The drama is great for creativity, confidence and meeting other children of different ages. I would like a martial art that focuses more on self defence but we are limited with choice where we are.

DTs are only just turned 4 and have just started school so can't do too much or they will be tired out. They have just started tennis and its great, some really simple ideas to help co-ordination, movement and just having fun.

I think that whatever activities they do, they should find fun and they need to give something a good go before they decide not to continue especially if we have paid out for kit.

DS started non-contact karate at 5 at a class in school - he enjoyed it so much that he started going to a second out-of-school class each week. He's 9 now and will be going for his black belt before he's 10. He also does rugby in and out of school and sings in a choir (I know, I know, doesn't go with the rugby and karate, but he enjoys it ).

My son has a big interest in Lego. He has learnt such a lot from it, learning to follow instructions, do things step by step, use his imagination to make things from scratch, create characters and role play with them and it's something he finds relaxing to do quietly. I definitely want my son to start martial arts when he's older as I think it will really give him something constructive to channel his energy into. I will be following the link for info, thank you.

Both my children have swimming lessons as I think it is an essential, life saving skill. They have both had dance lessons that have helped with confidence and communication skills, it has also taught them the importance of working together as a group. These lessons have ended only because the teacher has given up.

One of my children did have ago at martial arts but she decided that she preferring netball club instead.

My DS is a teenager now and tried many sports including martial arts when he was younger. His favourite sport turned out to be swimming and joined a competitive club at age 11 and has been swimming with them regularly ever since. He has gone on to train for a lifeguard qualification and now works part time (he is in 6th form at school) as a lifeguard at the same pool.
He has also gone through Beavers/Cubs/Scouts when he was younger where he learned a lot of life skills. After he left the Scouts at 14, he joined the Volunteer Police Cadets and does a lot of activities and volunteering in the community with them.

I take my 3yo boy to a music class where he learns basic musicality and plays different percussion instruments every week. He loves it and before the class he was really painfully shy but this has brought him out of his shell. I have also noticed that this has helped with his concentration and listening skills.

DD1 (almost 7yrs) does swimming, judo and horse-riding. She's also about to start violin lessons and is on the waiting list for Cubs.

DD2 (5.5 yrs) does swimming, judo and horse-riding. She's waiting for enough people to form a group so she can learn flute (she initially wanted French horn or saxophone!!!! No idea why!). She's also on the waiting list for Cubs.

Both girls spend a lot of time outdoors racing up and down our track (farm variety, not race variety!) on their bikes.

DS (almost 3) just does horse-riding at the moment - although is probably the most keen out of the three of them. We have our own pony and he loves to groom him and go for walks in the fields. He will be starting swimming lessons in January.

We wanted the girls to do Rainbows/Brownies but the waiting list for Rainbows was way too long (2 years!) and Brownies is on the same night as judo, hence why we opted for Cubs (and I actually think it will suit them better!).

I'm imagining that we will stop swimming lessons once they get to a certain level of ability, and just swim for pleasure, as we all really enjoy it. If they do decide they want to take it further though, we'll have no problem with that.

My daughter is a bit young yet, at 6 months, but when she's a wee bit bigger she'll definitely be trying some martial arts! I've done several, mainly Shorinji Kempo and Thai boxing, and they're superb for fitness, confidence and importantly, self defence. I also intend to get her into a swimming club for thd cardio and, if there's time, gymnastics. Maybe in 20years she'll be on the UFC like Jo Calderwood! On second thoughts, as her mum I don't think I could watch that ;-)

Mine both do music - one learns piano, the other guitar. That has helped them with memory skills and having the discipline of practicing between lessons.

they both used to do karate a while ago but sadly the instructor changed and the new one was not anywhere near as good so we gave up. When they were learning (with the good instructor) it helped lots with life skills and they learnt about keeping safe, recognising bullying, discipline of only usual karate in the dojo or in a real self defence situation, and so much more - also great for memory, fitness etc.

They read a magazine called Kids Alive that that is great for real life help to help them understand about the world around them and the right and wrong way to deal with things.

They also attend Boys Brigade which has taught them about looking after their uniform, supporting each other etc.

My to DC are still young so at the moment swimming lessons is the only extra curricular activity.

However I do hope that when there a little older they will find something they enjoy doing. I personally will not be deciding what it is they have to do I'd like to let them choose for themselves.

I would love to get my sons aged 5 and 8 into martial arts. What appeals with martial arts is the focus and discipline it entails and there are distinct levels of grading for children to work towards which must make them feel a sense of achievement and progress.

My boys do a lots of after school sports and we are really lucky as the local park has free sports after school every evening from dodge-ball to cricket. Currently, there are no classes close to me that I have heard of, but I am going to look into the website and see if there may be something not too far.

As they are so young, I am keen for them to try out as many sports as possible and as they get older they can narrow it down to the ones that they enjoy the most.

My DD (age 10) has recently got into gymnastics. She was asked into the squad after only 2 months of recreational classes and it has been a huge boost to her confidence aswell as giving her something to be passionate about where she has previously has no hobbies :)

In regards to parents who have commented saying that they don't like the idea of their child having to worry about body image in a gym class, my daughters gym club is full of children of all shapes & sizes, they are not all slim but they are a fine example of how any size child can be fit & strong - everyone is treated equally :)