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Can taekwondo help your child focus in school?
The school year is a couple of months in. Here is what a taekwondo class actually asks of a child's attention, and what Powerspeed parents have seen carry over to the classroom.
Nobody can promise you a better report card. What we can tell you is what happens on the mat during a class, and what parents have written about the weeks after. One father put it in a single line:
My first grader loves going to class and it's having a very positive influence on his school classroom focus.
He is not the only one. “I can see the difference in my son after just a month,” wrote Judy M. Doug S., whose son started at 4, said Instructor Ron has helped him get stronger and more athletic “while simultaneously improving his focus and confidence.”
Focus is something class asks for, every minute
A lot of activities are good for kids. Taekwondo is one of the few where paying attention is the skill itself. In a Powerspeed class for little ones, the asks are small and constant:
- Stand on your spot. Stillness comes first, before a single kick.
- Listen for the count. The whole room moves together, so you have to hear it.
- Hear the instruction once, then do it. The same habit a teacher is hoping for at 9 a.m.
- Start it on purpose, stop it on purpose. Chamber the kick, then hold it. Control is attention you can see.
None of those is hard on its own. Done over and over, in a room where everyone else is doing them too, they turn into habits.
The focus on teaching kids discipline and structure, while having a great time is a perfect balance.
Fun is what keeps them paying attention
Kids do not focus because they are told to. They focus on things they want to get right. That is why the fun part matters as much as the discipline part. One parent describes Instructor Ron as making lessons “fun, adaptable, and rewarding,” and another describes an instructor who “knows when they are working hard and gives rewards for excellent work,” in the words of Kendra J.'s son.
A child who is enjoying the drill is a child who is listening for the next one.
A goal close enough to see
Focus also needs something to aim at. Powerspeed's rule for progress is “Smaller Milestones Yield Greater Long Term Results,” so every student is working toward a next step they can actually reach, and promotion tests through the year show when they have earned it. We wrote more about that in what a new belt really means at Powerspeed.
Practicing for a test, setting a goal and keeping at it until it is done is the same work as studying. The belt just makes it visible.
Every kind of learner
Not every child finds sitting still and following directions easy, and that is fine. Master Ron and the team match the work to the student, and families of children with different abilities and needs have written about it:
Both of my children are autistic and struggle following direction and learning new things in general. But Ronald keeps them motivated.
A child who struggles in a classroom can still win on the mat. Those wins tend to build the confidence that makes the next hard thing a little easier.
Confidence and respect come home too
Focus rarely shows up alone. Marie R. noticed “confidence, respect for himself and others and independence” in her son a little over a month after he started. Toshiba W. wrote that her daughter “has gain so much confidence in being a leader.” Those are the same things a teacher notices in class.
Right after the school bell
For families who need the afternoon covered, Powerspeed's After-School Program brings in kids from several local schools. As Brooke L. put it, “The after school program and Taekwondo instruction are fantastic.”
See it for yourself
The quickest way to know whether taekwondo helps your child is to watch them in one class. Start with Kids Taekwondo for ages 4 to 7 or Kids Taekwondo for ages 8 to 13, or just come try a class at 5912 Riverdale Avenue.