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

Drama lesson gave her bags of confidence and loaning a horse taught her responsibility.

Singing - helped her be cute!

My son is only three at the moment so his hobbies consist of taking care of his doberman, colouring, and learning by playing games on the iPad.
Once he is older, I would like to get him into a martial arts class as I think it will instill in him a lot of self-respect and pride as well as a sense of responsibility and acheivement.

My youngest has started after school clubs, she does Gymnastics and Netball at the moment and hoping to join the girls football too. It's helped her so much as she tended to come from school, pop pj's on and straight in front of the TV, now she goes straight into clubs from school and I collect her an hour later, she's doing sports which is so important for her and she's no longer a couch potato lol

Olivia is only 18 months but she loves to help making cupcakes. She's also been taken swimming since she was a couple of months old & a sign language class from 9 months old

My son was always into cars, and now he is old enough to own cars he's never afraid to get stuck in and fix things himself. I'd never do that, but for him its just no big deal!

Our son has taken an interest in photography after we got a new camera and he claimed our old one. Although he is too young to understand the technical side of it his observational skills when we go out have improved a lot.

My DCs enjoy kayaking. This has boosted their confidence so much and they do things that they never though they would!

DS1 guitar lessons. DS2 in a swimming club for many years which really helped keep him fit and socialise. Both DSs have previously done Tae Kwon Do

My daughter is only 3 so doesn't really have any full fledged hobbies yet. She does love to sing though and is very confident and outgoing :)

my son who is 8 does trampolining which he absolutely loves and has taught him about disclipline and such fabulous exercise, my daughter of 11 goes to gymnastics and athletics classes both brilliant for social skills and of course keeping fit and healthy.

All three of mine have done Mixed Martial Arts and it has been of huge benefit to them. Not only has it kept them fit and given them an interest in living a healthy lifestyle, it has also helped them with self-discipline and has been a massive boost to their confidence.

They all also love reading and playing computer games. They have active social lives with their local youth club as well, which is a great way for them to meet new friends.

I thought about DS doing martial arts when he was younger, but was hesitant as he tended to play rough and I thought he might "use it in anger".

A lot of people said "don't worry, part of it is about learning respect and control, and they NEVER use it outside of the classes", but I didn't think he had enough self-control to listen to that part, (so he'd probably have got thrown out quite quickly.)

As it turned out DS showed me quite a few martial arts moves which he learnt from his friends in the playground. One friend in particular didn't do it for long, as he couldn't sit still and listen to the teacher.

Just realised the question was what do they do, rather than thoughts about Martial Arts.
Over the years DS has done rugby, football, tennis, basketball, golf, but never asked to do any Martial Arts.

They've tried lots of different things but swimming and dance have been the most consistently attended over the years

They're too young really but eldest (5) did karate for a few months and got more confidence. He's turned 6 now and started Beavers with a friend and seems to be enjoying being a little more independent.

All of my boys are / have been members of cubs / scouts, and as well as the social benefits of joining a club and making friends outside of school, they've learned lots of useful skills such as first aid, baking, fire safety and they've played different sports. It's definitely made them more rounded and confident people! :)

DS loves to draw and helps with concentration

My son is not the most physical of kids, he would rather do something using his brain than his legs, ha! He does love to draw and has started doing Ipad Art classes at school, he loves it and he is often winning certificates and prizes for his art projects, here's hoping he is going to be the new Damian Hirst eh!! Need him to buy me a house abroad in my later years where I can sip a glass of wine on the terrace overlooking my land... I can dream!! :-)))

DS (3) has recently started gymnastics lessons. It's a good physical activity for him and he is learning how to follow instructions well before starting school.

aughter goes to scouts and horse riding. She used to go to swimming and Judo. The later because she was quiet and hot picked on at primary school. She got her green belt but gave up as there were very few girls going and the boys she fought were much bigger and stronger and kept hurting her. She did gain fitness and a quiet confidence from it which helped her avoid the bullies and hold her own more.

My children have done a wide assortment of things - gymnastics, swimming, rugby, dance. DD did karate but the instructor left and she was really upset. No one else has come to replace him and we live somewhere remote so it may never start again. She is determined to start again when she goes away to univeristy or college. She plays lots of music. DS doesn't do a lot but loves canoeing which is available locally, and plays the guitar.

DD does tennis, swimming and piano. We spend an afternoon every week or so climbing trees in the woods and making dens. She wants to be a female Bear Grylls. DS does the same less the piano.

I think it is important that they love physical activity and nature when young. I am hoping it will continue when they are older.

All of these activities are with people away from school so it ensures they have a wide range of friends and social groups building their confidence.

My son reads a lot, an awful lot ! But, he hates writing. In the last couple of years, he's been reading the fan fiction for some of his favourite books (The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini - I'd recommend them for 14+). Fan fiction is written by people who like the books - they write their own stories continuing the book, or maybe writing alternative endings.
He's been so inspired that he's written his own story based on own of the books, and it's definitely helped to improved his writing skills, to the extent that he got an A in GCSE English Lit last month !
Plus, having people comment favourably on his fan fiction has definitely increased his confidence :-)