starting kids in martial arts

[Gints Klimanis]

Boxing anyone?

While I like boxing and encourage that culture, I wouldn't send my son to a regular boxing class.  Rather, I'd send him to a contact sports that doesn't concentrate so much on head shots.  Am I the only one that feels a major loss in mental coherency for several hours after taking a number of head shots, even with head gear?  I like the experience, but it's hard to make something so mentally damaging a regular event.

[KajuJKDFighter]

Hopefully the teacher would teach a skill set that would have the student blocking and parrying......defense is the Most important for beginners.....  If the head hurts after sparring every time......the defense is a bit lacking...

[Dragonhaven]

At our school we have a childrens KAJU program that focuses on blocks, punches, kicks, mat and self awareness, along with many other things put in to help our kids learn the baiscs and get ready to move on to more advanced kajukenbo. We accept accept 4 year olds in to our program and they learn the basics till they are 6 or 7 years old, usualy by that time they are ready to or have already learned most of the basics and grab arts (kids format).

[thoughtbombing]

I started TKD and Wrestling BOTH at the age of 4, tournament wrestling at the age of 6, AAU Nationals at 7 in the 8 year old division.

My little brother started lifting with me when he was 4, and by the time he was 8 years old, he was the AAU Freestyle, Folkstyle National champ.

6 is old enough for TKD. I suggest letting them start to learn there, or maybe with wrestling to get the grappling down... that is more FUN and less work and discipline(to me anyway... wrestling is forgiving if you're stronger than your opponent... TKD is not. Spinning back kick and you're out.)

Martial Arts takes more than just putting in some time to perfect it. It takes true dedication to working on yourself as a person. You know your kids better than anyone... maybe ask them what they want to do... never know, it might be ballet and soccer...

Martial arts was also great training for other sports I played and vice versa

[KajuJKDFighter]

You mean start in Kaju?

[kelie]

in Japan they teach the kids Judo from early on, as a form of physical fitness and a basic introduction to martial arts... the philosiphy(sp) of martial arts is just as important as the physical aspect... respect, honor, etc... i believe Judo is a good introduction to martial arts, learning how to fall, roll, basic punches, kicks and throws... you can't go wrong with Judo for kids, but i started Kaju in the 4th grade(about 9yrs old w/GGM Iverson), after a few "summer fun" park dept. Judo classes and what i learned in the first few weeks of Kaju covered all the basics of Judo... its easy enough to take what you learned in Judo and apply it to Kaju so Juda is a good option for youngsters, but i think if they are gonna(eventually) study Kaju then they should probably start out with Kaju, instead of starting out with TKD and switching over to Kaju... when i moved away from my Kaju lessons i signed up for some standard "McDojo" Karate(ka-ra-tae) as the haole's say it...  as a purple belt(2nd belt aft white, under GGM Iverson) i was much more advanced than alot of their 3rd and 4th level belts... what they taught me in Kaju was way beyond what they were teaching to their young students... as a black belt you probably have some experience as an instructor so for you to hold some classes in your garage wouldn't be such a huge feat for you as an instructor(Sifu)... this is also an opportunity for family time, you can teach your wife some basic self-defense too... maybe the kids friends in the neighborhood may be interested also, maybe some parents too, you could turn it into a neighborhood watch/seld defense class... just think you should avoid the TKD classes esp if the long term plan is Kaju...