The Wushu Masters Challenge is a very lively carnival-style event concerning martial arts, through which the essence of Chinese martial arts is promoted to the general public. While watching the performances by masters of various types of martial arts, were you inspired to let your children learn martial arts? However, you may also worry about what should be done when they get injured, as they may get bruised from time to time.
During childhood, children have not yet fully developed physically. From the perspective of medical science, children's bone calcification has not been completed and their bones are softer and their joints are more flexible. Therefore, children who start learning martial arts have higher plasticity. However, on the other hand, since children's muscle strength is insufficient and their bones are less capable of resisting external forces, children may be more vulnerable to injuries.
The learning of martial arts should start from the basic level and should be based on a child's physical characteristics. It is not advisable to act with undue haste. In addition, it should be noticed that different children develop at different paces. Generally speaking, children should start learning basic martial arts such as flexibility training not until the age of 3 to 4. Confrontational combat training should begin after children have reached the age of 8 to 10, so as to minimize the chance of injury during practice. When they reach adolescence, without continuous flexibility training, their flexibility will decrease as their age increases. If they start learning martial arts at that time, they will encounter certain difficulties in movements such as punching, kicking and tumbling.
In the course of development, children first develop in height and then grow in weight. Their strength is weak and they feel exhausted easily. Therefore, children should not conduct strength training involving muscle weight training. In addition, it is necessary to do enough warm-up exercise before practice. Although children have higher flexibility, they may be faced with more severe consequences than adults once injury occurs.
Chinese martial arts have a long history. Valuing martial arts and virtues is an excellent part of the culture and tradition among the Chinese. However, parents should also pay attention to safety concerns and gradually provide children with appropriate guidance and help with learning martial arts, according to the patterns of a child's development, so that children can strengthen both physically and mentally as they are learning martial arts, which is beneficial for their physical and mental development.
