Proper martial arts training makes you a better man, and putting your children through martial art training makes you a good parent.

Traditional martial arts has been always a combination of physical, mental, and moral discipline. Therefore, martial art training centers, or dojos, are excellent places for people to develop in a controlled setting while preparing them for the adversity one can face in real life. In that way, martial arts is described as a way of life, hence many martial arts end with -do, or “the way”.

One such benefit of martial art is self-discipline and control. Published in Developmental Psychology from University of Surrey of 240 students between the ages of 7 to 11 years old through 11 weeks, in a case-controlled study, researchers found that students placed in Taekwondo training developed better self-regulation than those who did not.

The taekwondo experimental group received two 45-minute class per week. The control group, received two 45-minute physical education class per week.

Comparing before and after questionnaires, researchers found the taekwondo experimental group had better self-regulation attentional capacity and better executive attention, leading to overall reduced conduct problems. Best of all, the students loved the taekwondo classes.

T Ng-Knight et al. Does taekwondo improve children’s self-regulation? If so, how? A randomized field experiment. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001307