“Martial arts or karate may not be a good fit for my daughter.”

We live in the 21st century, and I still listen to this one. This kind of thinking is what has been holding women back for centuries. This statement is made not only by fathers, but also by mothers. If her daughter wants to try martial arts, let her have a chance. Martial arts classes for girls or women are very rewarding.

Over the years, I have trained successful female martial arts competitors who were just as good as their male counterparts. In the past, our children’s karate demo team had female captains. At one point, we had more girls on the demo team than boys.

Lately, we’ve hit the opposite cycle, with more boys than girls, as the kids on our kids’ karate demo team perform in the Providence, Rhode Island area. However, girls learn faster, understand precision, can easily grasp complicated techniques, and are generally better kickers.

Some grappling arts, like jujitsu, aren’t as popular with girls, but I’ve also trained good female fighters. There is no reason to prevent your daughter from learning martial arts if she shows an interest. All the benefits of life skills such as goal setting, self-esteem, self-discipline, success, and self-defense make martial arts training just as important for girls as it is for boys.

“How can I justify the cost of Karate?”

If you consider that many karate schools charge less than a babysitter, martial arts training for children is a “bargain.” Consider this formula based on a fairly high priced Karate study. Most martial arts studios in the United States average around $70 per month to train a child. Okay, some are more and some are less, but let’s see your price per hour, if you pay $100 per month.

That works out to just $25 a week, and many Karate studios limit kids to three classes a week. That works out to $8.33 per session for your child to learn life skills, self-defense, and play with good kids in a safe environment. Martial arts, for kids, is a formula for success, and the cost is really, “peanuts.”

Most well-behaved children are allowed to take more Karate classes. Children who “run irregular staff” will be reminded of the weekly limit. So the truth is, the actual cost may be less than the peanuts, as there are plenty of martial arts schools, including our center in North Providence, Rhode Island, that charge well under $100 per month.

Using the formula mentioned above, the cost of Karate per class for a martial arts school, charging the national average of $70 per month, comes to $5.83 per session. Did I say that martial arts training is a bargain? Maybe I should have said that martial arts training is a bargain.

The alternative of connecting the children to the television and putting a joystick in their hand is a big mistake. It’s not cheaper, when you consider the ever-changing cost of games and video game formats.

On top of that, here’s what video games do for kids: They create anxiety, destroy social skills, teach them a lot about violence, and waste most of their time. All you need to do is throw a Big Mac in your lap every night, and a year from now, you should have a child who is nervous, has poor communication skills, and has an obesity problem.

In the long term, incorrect extracurricular activities result in very expensive health and psychological care. Therefore, consider martial arts as preventative medicine, and as a bonus, your child will stay out of trouble.

Lastly, if cost is really an issue and you still can’t justify paying less than you would for a babysitter at $5.83 per session, you can still shop around and talk until you find the right karate studio.

A martial arts studio that is “filled to the brim” with children may not be as marketable as a karate studio that is an upstart, or a martial arts center that has plenty of room in its children’s karate classes. .