Martial Arts for Kids (1 Viewer)

[TheWalkmen]

I was wondering if anyone would share some of their experiences with their kids in martial arts. I know next to nothing about them, except they're supposed to build confidence and obviously allow your kid to take on just about anyone. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[NCCommish]

Most of the kids programs actually seem more concerned with building self confidence, discipline and physical fitness over being Rambo. I know some folks who went the judo route with their kids. They thought it made a real difference for their kids especially in their social confidence and self discipline.

 

[Guest]

My daughter started taking taekwondo when she was around 8. She loved it and it was very good for her confidence. She made it to a 1 stripe green belt before they stopped offering the classes in my small town.

One time at a football game, a boy was giving one of her friends a hard time (name calling, etc.). My daughter dropped him with a well placed knee to the groin. I was so proud.

 

[Cjw_55106]

As long as they arent in with the Cobra Kai, I dont think anything bad can come of it. Like others have mentioned, self confidence and decipline are common positives. Not sure what age you are talking, but my dad has been an instructor for years and wont take anyone under seven.

 

[gianmarco]

My son is 8 (turning 9 in 2 months) and has been in Karate for 2 yrs. Absolutely loves it. Lots of benefits that you already alluded to, mostly discipline, following directions, self-confidence (he helps run the beginning of classes) in addition to the athletic aspect of it.

He's done tons of sports so far and as of now, he mainly participates in soccer and karate, both of which are easily his favorites.

I'm more than happy to go into more detail if you have more questions.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Please sign your children up for real MMA/ tae kwon do. The "Karate" schools are mostly garbage and will result in a lighter wallet and a kid with useless defensive skills.

ETA - I wrote this earlier in a hurry and I was being hyperbolic. So let me (be slightly less hyperbolic but) add that while that IMO, most of the martial arts schools are purely money grabs intended to rob you of your hard earned cash at every new belt color, there are the few like 17Seconds experienced which can be great influences even if I questioned the training.

 

[JFT Ben]

Agree with Steadymobbin. If you are fortunate enough to have a place in town that does judo or brazilian jiu jitsu with kids classes, sign them up. Way better than the McDojo's that provide pretty ballet. I teach my kids what little judo and BJJ skills I know that I think are applicable, but wish there were local classes.

 

[17seconds]

My son took a few months of TKD last summer (age 6). I wasn't crazy about doing it, but I thought it was a very good experience. The owner of the place is Korean and is very much into discipline and respect. It's almost more important than the martial art itself. You can't advance belts unless you are graded well on a very large (40 item) checklist of items like "don't talk back to your parents", "make your bed", "be respectful to your siblings", "brush your teeth", etc. Every day before bed you are supposed to give your kid an A,B, or C in each category and it is turned in at the end of the month. Very much bringing the Asian parenting philosophy into it.

The main reason we quit is we moved him into Cub Scouts and didn't want to overload on activities. I would start it back up if he chose to.

 

[Chadstroma]

My son (8yr) recently started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which he has been very excited about and motivated to do. As a typical boy, he has watched Power Rangers and other martial arts related shows and would do karate type moves while watching or when playing. The sports complex near us has a BJJ place and I floated it to him when we were dropping off his sister for her vball. He was interested and told my wife he wanted to go. He has been having some issues at school with some social/anger issues. It may or may not be related to my wife going through a cancer battle but he is a very big hearted kid. The impact was enough for him to go through a process for getting extra assistance. The end result was that he was eligible for things like counseling/OT but since he goes to a private school we would have to enroll him at the public school which isn't an option we are willing to consider unless absolutely needed. I was hesitant to enroll him for fear of his anger management struggles but his new therapist said that it would likely be a good outlet for him and told us to move forward with it.

His motivation for doing homework has changed completely as the first thing he wants to do is get his homework done in order to be able to go to BJJ sessions. Previously, doing homework would be a fight and he would procrastinate as much as possible. Yesterday, he was concerned we weren't going straight home so he could do his homework since the kids had a dentist appointment and then he had his first therapy session. He has gone to three sessions and each day has been "Ok, I am going to do my homework so I am ready to go."

He is enjoying himself and it really seems to be something that has him motivated and focused on doing what he needs to do at home/school so he has the privilege of going. I also like that BJJ is a much more real life useful martial art for self defense than a lot of other martial arts. As long as he keeps motivated in it which motivates him in other areas of life, I am a huge fan of it for him.

 

[Angry Beavers]

My son did TKD for years. The discipline is amazing and if they learn things along the way, even better.

 

[SWC]

gotta karate chop something so i support it take that to the bank bromigos

 

[Andy Dufresne]

My daughter is a 5th degree black belt*, instructor, and will likely take over the school she works at. She's done it since she was 5 years old. Super glad we found the "thing" for her at such a young age.

*Super awesome, to be sure, but it's not like she's Beatrix Kiddo or anything.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

My daughter took TKD for 10+ years. She stopped after she got her 2nd degree black belt. For her/us it was about discipline, hard work, community, friends, working out. The ability to fight was very low on the list. She’s tiny. But it was on there She dropped her male cousin like a sack of potatoes one time. Which was awesome.

IMHO the master at the studio is the most important part. We had a truly AMAZING one. He left/sold the studio right as she was testing for her 2nd Dan. After he left she didn’t want to do it anymore. One thing that’s cool is that her being a second-degree black belt goes on her college applications.

ETA: she would go 3 times a week. one of the master’s sayings was “if they’re here, they’re not somewhere else”. Meaning the kids were safe and in a good environment. My daughter ended up being a jr instructor for the little kids at 14, which she loved. At 17 she’s a remarkably confident young lady. She handles herself well and has zero issues in most “adult” situations. It’s been this way for years. I give the TKD and the time spent at the dojang a lot of credit for that.

 

[Chadstroma]

I had some emails from the 'team' at school (his teacher, principal, school counselor, etc) and there has been a marked improvement in all the areas that were issues with him. Like him asking 4-5 times before lunch for bathroom breaks to nothing. It really is tied into this as the therapy and all basically hasn't even started. So very happy with how this is helping him.

A couple of funny things...

- There is a big mirror in the studio. He loves watching himself in it. My wife said he even did the whole pointing fingers to himself (like the cheesy 70's move)
- After a sparring session, he gets up and then does the sign of the cross and kiss. Now, my wife is Catholic, they go to a Catholic school... so the sign of the cross isn't totally foreign for him, but I have never seen him do it outside of praying. I couldn't stop laughing.
- Yesterday, my older son had a soccer game so I took him to that and my wife took my younger son to BJJ which was her first time. On the way, I guess she told him something along the lines of "don't be too rough".... then very early in the session she hears the coach admonishing two girls practicing a move "Come on! You got to be rough!"

 

[Chadstroma]

My son had his first 'bad attitude' upset. To be honest, the fact we were two weeks into doing it before he had an instance of getting upset was impressive to me. While rolling, he got beat consecutively first by a kid a little older than him, then a boy younger than him and then a girl about his age. All of them clearly have much more time in than he has which is pretty much everyone in the studio so far as he is the new kid. Essentially, he isn't applying much of the moves taught and ends up trying to wrestle and then gets beat when they perform an actual move and lock him up.

Today we went and he had a great attitude the whole time. Got beat in rolling mostly but kept at it. He got a little hurt at one point when they were playing a game (they do about 10 min at the end of each session to do some sort of game... usually dodgeball... today was a form of soccer type game using your hands for the ball and only able to take 3 steps) he popped up and laughed it off. So that was great to see.