Martial Arts Mom: Anna Grant

I have a daughter. And I know how important it is to know self-defense.

And to be prepared for the world. And it’s our job as parents to prepare our children. And I have always had a fascination personally with martial arts. And I, but I’ve always been kind of scared to jump into it.  But I knew that I wanted my daughter to do it. I was very adamant about that.

So as soon as she turned three years old, I started looking at different places around Longmont, because I didn’t wanna have to drive too far.  And I sat in a bunch of classes around town, I interviewed a lot of people and I came across your school on Google, I think it was. And, um, I really liked how it wasn’t part of a chain, and when you met my daughter… she has a lot of energy, can be a handful, and you handled it really well. And you didn’t push her, you didn’t yell at her.  It wasn’t like a drill sergeant. There was a lot of compassion and empathy and understanding.

The way that you dealt with her and that really won me over.

What kind of benefits or changes have you seen and how long would you think that those kind of things usually take?

Well, I mean it’s, you’re building character, which takes, that’s a long-term goal, so it’s not gonna happen overnight.

And when Arya first started coming here, she was bouncing off the walls, wouldn’t listen. And eventually over the months, you know, she really wanted to. She really wanted to learn the techniques and she wanted to. I just saw a big change in her after about maybe six months is what.

And then today I think she still has a long way to go. You know, she’s only nine now. But I’ve seen a lot of huge improvements and she loves it. She, like, she would be here every day of the week if we let her. So, as it is, we’re coming two, sometimes three times a week.

What would you say to somebody who would be thinking or on the fence about like, well, either, you know, should I put my kid in martial arts in a and specifically should I put them in martial arts here?

Well, I’d say, I mean, you’re talking to somebody who, who has had kind of an obsession all their life with martial arts. Um, so yeah, absolutely. Your kids should be in martial arts. It, it teaches discipline. It teaches you how not to fight and how to avoid confrontation, and it teaches you self-esteem. You know, which is, which is huge.

I think, uh, the way the world works today, there, there’s a lot of things that drain self-esteem. And this is something that can really build a person up. And, you know, like I said before, it’s character building. It’s physically demanding and you can see your hard work pay off, whereas, sometimes working on computers, you can’t.

Tangibly see progress, but in this, you can see progress. So I think absolutely every parent should put their kids in, in some kind of martial arts class. And the reason to come to this school in particular is, well, I mean, you, you know, you’re, um, you know, it’s not a factory.

You don’t yell at ’em and demand obedience, you cultivate it like a bamboo farmer, you know, you, uh, you, you kind of lay the foundation and, and allow them to grow.

And that’s…it’s really special.