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 DCs definitely have hobbies. DD is 3 and likes to collect nature stuff, such as flowers and sticks. I use it as a learning activity for her, so we learn the names of plants. I'm getting her a flower press soon.
DS likes Lego, building stuff, drawing and maths - I sense an engineering future ahead of him. Hobbies are definitely to be encouraged, but I'd like to get them into something more physically active.

my oldest child loves computers and joined the school computer club, my eldest daughter used to like dancing classes

my son joined computer club at school and wanted to go to science club but there was no more places left :( my eldest daughter loves dancing

We live by the sea so swimming lessons were an essential hobby for both my boys and they've also enjoyed Beavers/Cubs and now spend so much time outside putting into practice the skills they've learnt there, like building dens, camp-fire cooking and map reading that they've not only had fun but also learnt important life skills along the way.

My 7yo ds plays football at after school club and a weekend local training session, and has swimming lessons - he would like to do more after school clubs, but me working on other days gets in the way of that as I can't do the ferrying / collecting. We held off on weekend activities until just recently as we like to go away a lot, but his commitments are now first thing Saturday and late afternoon Sunday so we can still do overnights away. And it's not an issue if we miss a week (apart from losing money). Seeing family and friends who also have children can be a nightmare negotiation of what activities or classes can or can't be missed (some seem more inflexible than others!).

Ds2 has just started reception so just swimming for him so far.

My 9 years old daughter has been doing karate since she was 7 and now is a purple belt going for brown and she really like it. She also plays the cello and have private lessons once a week.

My 5 years old son seemed less interested in out of school activities but has started swimming lessons this summer and it seems he is enjoying them.

All the activities my children do are local to us, the music teacher and the Karate are just 10 minutes walk from our house whilst the swimming pool is around 20 minutes away.

My daughter loves crafting, she cuts out and sticks things together to make the most amazing creations. I think this has helped her massively with her dexterity and imagination

they enjoy learning to paint as it helps them learn patience and calmness

Ds1 (severely autistic) surfs & does a lot of hill walking

Ds2 does a lot of drama/dance/singing activities - that's given him bags of confidence & he's ended up doing quite a lot of professional work - so most of his activities are a variation on that. Although he also swims.

Ds3 is our mixed bag, he does quite a lot at school - including martial arts (& fencing). I'm not sure he'll keep those up when he leaves primary, it'll be up to him. He also plays golf, swims & learns an instrument. In terms of confidence - I don't know really. He enjoys the classes & I think just being around people you like etc can be enough to increase confidence.

Music, swimming and gymnastics for my 6yr old. Martial arts would definitely something I would consider though, she needs something to build her confidence!

My ds plays for the school football team and the town team so has associated matches and training each week. He also does after school French club and cubs once a week.

Last year he started judo as I was told martial arts are good for ADHD. I have to say it has been great for him. He loves it, it has boosted his confidence, helped his willingness to tackle in football (it has banished his fear of falling), provided him with some out of school friends and has helped him toughen up. All in all I think it is probably the most beneficial of his extra curricular activities. His friends had all been doing karate for a few years so I didn't want him starting and being behind the others. Judo is now "his thing" and although, because he is primary level, grading is slow when compared to the karate kids that seem to be grading every few weeks, he is far more suited to the physical nature of the sport. I would, and do, recommend it to anyone!

My son currently takes music lessons. He is 9 and is learning to play the trumpet.
I have recently been looking into martial arts lessons for him as I've read and been told that the lessons would be good for him for various reasons.
He has dyspraxia which effects his balance and co-ordination badly. He is very shy and lacks in confidence as well which I believe the lessons would also help with this. As it would be nice to see him come out of his shell

my son plays football for a local kids team. It has helped him concentrate, learn to take turns and work as part of a team

My ds1 (15) plays football and skateboards with his mates.

He goes to a mixed martial arts class where he does kick boxing, muay thai, and jujitsu. He has only been going a few months. He really enjoys the fitness aspect of it, and trains at home - he has a punch bag and I think he recognises that it is also a good outlet for his teenage hormones! I know the instructor and am happy th he runs the class responsibly. My own worry is that ds now thinks that being a cage fighter would be a good career. Hmm...

DS age 10 has been doing karate for 3 years and he enjoys this a lot. It has really helped his concentration and confidence. I also love the discipline and respect they promote. DS now trains about 5 hours per week and has started to train with the England Squad once a month (eeek!).

DS2 (5) has also started karate as he really wants to be like his brother. He also does swimming and drama.

The only problem is now how I can afford to keep up with the hobbies without remortgaging the house!

I would love my two older children to do some martial arts as where we live is quite a rough area and as they are dd is 8 (almost9) and ds is 10 they are wanting to venture out more n more on their own. I would like to know they can defend their selves but not go round fighting which I fear they would at something like boxing! Ds ATM does football and dd goes to singing classes they also both attend the local youth club 2 nights a week my daughter. Collects Pokemon stuff anything she finds from this and my son just loves his Xbox (I have been told from some of my partners friends he's a great sniper!!)

I would love my two older children to do some martial arts as where we live is quite a rough area and as they are dd is 8 (almost9) and ds is 10 they are wanting to venture out more n more on their own. I would like to know they can defend their selves but not go round fighting which I fear they would at something like boxing! Ds ATM does football and dd goes to singing classes they also both attend the local youth club 2 nights a week my daughter. Collects Pokemon stuff anything she finds from this and my son just loves his Xbox (I have been told from some of my partners friends he's a great sniper!!)

my son is 11. He learned to swim when he was 4 & was invited to swim for our City when he was 6! He trains very hard 4 days a week, but he has learned a great deal of discipline from his sport. He has made a great many friends & he is so proud of his trophies & medals.

I believe that his sport has given him a great deal of confidence & a level of fitness that is far beyond that of his friends, whose hobbies are gaming.

My 8yr old DD started martial arts 12 months ago. She has become so much more confident in everything she does. She is lucky to have an amazing coach who has helped her achieve so much in such a short space of time. Last month she competed abroad and came back with two medals.

DS goes to judo twice a week but to be honest it hasn't really done anything to change his everyday life!

Our eldest has been taking swimming lessons for 8 months now and I have to say, being able to see the way he interacts as part of a group as helped me to help him in the way reacts to instructions and situations. He turns 4 in 3 weeks and we will be signing him upto a Jujitsu class soon after as he will then be old enough. OH use to do ninjutsu, so martial arts are favourable over other activities as we can help with the interest and OH can see what benefits learning the skill has.

My daughter is 5 and we're currently trying to decide what class to start taking her to. She wants to do climbing, gymnastics, Girl's Brigade and theatre. More discussion and research is needed before we book her in and I think it'd better be just one thing a week. She already goes to Sports Skills on a Monday after school which she loves.

My lad is all about the swimming at the moment - keeps him fit and he's improving loads. He also goes to Beavers which i think is helping him with his listening and concentration skills (in a more fun environment than school!)

My son is a little too young for hobbies as such, though I do take him swimming and to music classes. When he gets to the stage of choosing, I want to give him the opportunity to try lots of different things then pick the ones he is most keen on

My little man has just started Welsh lessons which he is really enjoying