Day Care vs. Child Care: The Martial Arts Model

Quality childcare is such an important issue for many families.  For decades, the daycare industry has had a lock on this market.  Owners of daycares quickly saw an emerging need as more and more families became two income homes.  Forward thinking entrepreneurs quickly developed chains that could open in communities across the country, taking advantage of a growing need in virtually every major city in the United States.  Daycares have become big business.  I’ve talked to enough daycare owners to know this need isn’t diminishing.

But daycares have suffered from the same lack of vision and understanding that many public school systems have.  As the state has established specific regulatory guidelines for daycares, owners have become more and more reliant on those guidelines being the measure of their service, rather than the actual needs of children or parents.  Many daycares have become little more than warehouses for children who need “supervised” care after school until their parents can pick them up after work.

Walk into any daycare in your community and you will quickly see this is true.  “Supervision” of these children is a loose term.  As long as a child doesn’t wonder off the premises and isn’t hurt, daycares consider them to be supervised.  Oh sure, they may have story time, or arts & crafts time, and playtime on the small playground in back of the daycare facility.  But are these children benefiting from this “care”?  Are they truly learning anything?  Are they improving their fitness?  Is their self-confidence growing?  Is their ability to focus, display self-discipline, and exhibit courtesy to others improving?  Not likely.  And we haven’t even discussed the illnesses that seem to consistently spread in these “child care” centers (you know what I’m talking about).

The question becomes, “Is my child getting what he or she deserves for the money I am paying?”  In the metro OKC area, after-school care alone can run between $55/week and $115/week, depending on location, facility, and the “name brand” of the provider.  In home “daycares” (baby sitters) can charge less, but provide, on the whole, even less in return.  All day care can run upwards of $140/week.

So if you have to place your child in an after-school care program (or all day care during summers), what should be the expected benefits of this program?  What should be your child’s ROI for the money you’re spending?  Here are some important themes we’ve gained from visiting with parents:

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Physical Fitness – This is extremely important in addressing the child obesity epidemic (which is exasperated when schools cut their P.E. courses).  But as many physicians will tell you, motor skill development is also crucial to cognitive development.  Proper physical activity stimulates the brain’s ability to learn.

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      Life-skills Training – This includes all those attributes and    attitudes we try to teach our children.  Courtesy, respect, self-discipline, integrity, focus, etc.  These are the characteristics that will propel them to success in every area of their lives.

      Self-Defense – With so much violence happening in our society, in school, at the park, at public meetings, and with bullying continuing to plague our schools, parents appreciate their children learning how to protect themselves.  This is more than just kicking and punching, but also danger awareness, conflict resolution skills, and responsible behavior.

A martial arts after-school program (or all day summer program) can provide these benefits and more.  The skills we teach lead directly to greater self-confidence, improved academic performance, and more appropriate behavior.  A martial arts program can also offer your child the ability to release their creative side as well.

If you are looking for an alternative to the warehouse babysitting service provided by most daycares, if you are looking for an after-school or summer care program that will truly invest in their development as individuals, and if you want to ensure that the money you are spending is creating a genuine ROI for your child, then it’s time to explore the option of a martial arts after-school program.  They put the “care” back into “childcare.”

If you would like more information on how a martial arts after school program can benefit your child, or if you need help identifying a quality martial arts after school program in your community, contact us.