Growing Gorillas: More Than Martial Arts for Kids

What made you want to sign your child enrolled in our Growing Gorillas kids martial arts program?

Was it to learn discipline and respect? To learn confidence? Or to simply have an energy outlet while taking part in a healthy activity?

Growing Gorillas gives your kids all of those things! But there’s so much more that comes with it.

It’s more than an after school activity. It’s more than a physical activity that teaches discipline and confidence. It’s a child development program that will help your disciplined and confident child grow into a disciplined and confident adult.

You put them through these programs, because there are pressures in life that they’re going to have to cope with when they leave home.

Why are these benefits important for your child? Why not just put them in any other kids martial arts program that lets them throw some punches and kicks and run around with other kids for an hour?

Well it turns out that not only do they need those benefits in their childhood, but they need it in their adulthood as well. And trends are showing that young adults missed out on these learning opportunities early in life.

Mental Health in Young Adulthood

In recent years, a growing number of college students face mental health issues as they also face living independently. Boston University Today reports:

“A 2014-2015 survey by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors found that 73.1 percent of counseling center directors reported an increase in the severity of student mental health concerns and related behavior on their campuses…Students are not only coming to school with preexisting mental health issues, but with additional stressors and anxieties about performance and fitting in socially.”” – From “A Growing Challenge”, by Joel Brown.

The New England Journal of Medicine reports that rates of college students on anti-depressants is higher than ever:

“…It is estimated, for example, that 25 to 50 percent of U.S. college students who are seen in counseling and at student health centers are taking antidepressants.” – From “Getting an Edge — Use of Stimulants and Antidepressants in College”, by Richard Kadison, M.D.

As hard as it is for parents, we have to let our kids struggle. We have to remember that when they fall down they gain strength when they get back up.

Our coaches know how tough those battles are for parents, and that’s why they stand right beside you as your child struggles and grows.

Those are the invaluable benefits that a Growing Gorillas kids martial arts program offers.

Let’s teach our Growing Gorillas how to manage their emotions long before they leave home.

Let’s teach them how to have grace under pressure long before they have to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.

And, when life doesn’t go as they expected, let’s teach them how to adapt, bounce back, and come out stronger.

Let’s make them Growing Gorillas.