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

Has anyone mentioned the picture yet? Hq, who chose the photo that is being used on the page above? Is it a stock pic or part of the companies advertising campaign?

DD1 swims, she loves it and it has made her more confident both in and out of the water. She also goes to art club which she really enjoys.
DD2 is quieter, and being younger hasn't yet started swimming lessons, she will soon though. I hope hobbies will bring her out of herself and improve her confidence in time.

Dd1 is 4 and I'm convinced she is going to be an actress or writer because she spends so much of her time making up plays and stories and acting them out.

Dd2 is only 9 months and her hobby is exploring and seeing what treasure she can find.

Just want to have a proud mum moment. My DS has just achieved his black belt :) Martial arts has taught him perseverance, self-discipline, respect. I think it does kids good to be involved with a hobby or sport. As well as social skills and keeping them fit it's good to teach them to keep going with something even when there are times they'd like to give up.

DS is only 2.5 so not too aware of 'hobbies' yet, but I definitely do want him to do extra curricular activities as he grows up. He's had swimming lessons which were great but had to stop when I changed my work hours. Looking at gym/ trampolining for him in the new yr, and DP is determined he will at least give martial arts a go, being into thai kickboxing and ju-jitsu himself.

I think for DS, the discipline involved will really help temper his boisterous nature, while letting him still be active.

Ballet gives amazing posture

Eldest ds did judo at nursery, but noww does gymnastics once a week. We want him to keep fit, but sadly most activities around here start too early to fit in with us both working full-time :(

my little one's are aged 3 and 6. My daughter (6) has tried ballet, it was a small class of 5/6 when she was 3 but unfortunately the dance teacher was not very reiable and cancelled lessons every other week or so then stopped teaching. She also has started swimming lessons has completed her stage one and practiced for her stage 2 but wanted a break from it as it was a intensive course. I feel it is very important that she has learnt to swim and we take both little ones swimming regularily and they are confident in the water although my son age 3 still uses armbands. She also tried dance and tap and really enjoyed it at first, she was 5 at the time and it was 3hrs of a Saturday morning, she went for 3 mths then became really upset due too older children being a extremly boisterous can then being 'told off' and it scared her. My son is due to start football coaching today as he has wanted to do this since he was about 18mths but there has not been any groups available in our area upto now, it starts at age 3 yrs. I would love them to get involved in martial arts to teach them to focus on a skill, become more confident inmixing with more boisterous children and not feeling scared as they are really fun children and confident in themselves, happy and outgoing but a bit timid when other children are quite physical they become scared being bumped, pushed. I would like them to be strong physically and aware of different body shapes and carry themselves well. At this age i fell they may not want to do one thing/activity week in week out and i allow them to choose when they have had enough and go back to it if they want to or leave it. It is hard to try and get my little ones to enjoy the same activities due to age and what they prefer. They both really enjoy the outdoors, exploring and being on their feet, moving, jumping, running about. Also enjoy reading and visiting different places too. They enjoy being themselves and little adventures.

16 mo DC does gymnastics & swimming & will be doing Tae Kwon Do as soon as old enough

It enables her to take safe risks, know her limits & abilities & build body confidence

Swimming is a life skill!

I'd like Kendo to feature too in the future

16 mo DC does gymnastics & swimming & will be doing Tae Kwon Do as soon as old enough

It enables her to take safe risks, know her limits & abilities & build body confidence

Swimming is a life skill!

I'd like Kendo to feature too in the future

DD goes swimming and to Rainbows and is in a Cheerleading squad. She is very active. There is a local Judo group but it is on the same night as swimming so she hasn't joined that yet

Ds(8) does rugby, computer club and swimming as school clubs. Outside school, we've been cycling a lot this year and he's been doing events up to 25 miles, and also did a sprint triathlon. He's really learnt about pushing yourself on, having to grit your teeth sometimes, and how training builds to let you achieve.

Dance group and swimming

My son has had guitar lessons. He has to concentrate hard and practise which are valuable skills. He says it helps to relax him so he often plays when he arrives back form school.

Getting involved with sports and dancing. Helps build their confidence, shows how to be a team member and gets them doing exercise x

Mines like drawing. and it helps them in their projects. They show a lot of creativity in their work and put a lot of effort into it.

Computer games, especially the informative ones, helped with their education (we did plenty of teaching ourselves, as well) .. and one of my children now runs an IT company in Norway

I have 3 DC aged 5, 6 and 9. They all do different after school activities - music lessons, football, rugby and lego club. Although they are all different they all learn the same lessons - helping others, working as part of a team and feeling proud of what they can achieve when they set their minds to a task.

My daughter wanted to go to drama class when she was little. She started when she was about six and still goes now. It has really helped with her confidence and she loves taking part in school plays and reading out loud in class. I would highly recommended it.

My son just loves Lego ( who doesnt) but he builds such weird & wonderful things. Im hoping this is the start of a career in architecture ;)

My son took up Muay Thai Boxing which turned out to be a very good move. He was approached on 2 occasions by lads trying to start a fight. Thankfully he knew how to recognise a punch coming and how to get the first punch in effectively.
I don't condone violence, but it does help knowing how to protect yourself.

My DC loves dancing. She has joined dancing classes and performed in front of a large audience so it has certainly given her confidence

my daughter had a heart operation and still has a weak heart she started street/ballroom dancing it has made her heart stronger and even though she gets tired quicker than others she carries on regardless,it has also boosted her self confidence

Amelia is learning swimming which is a must with all the school cut backs, and she is enjoying the team spirit while making new friends. She has just started ballet & tap dancing lessons which will help with fitness, confidence, & following instructions.

My DD does gymnastics and it helps her so much with coordination, being flexible and understanding how exercise keeps you healthy.