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Marcus_1
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Children and the Martial Arts

Having recently returned to training as a novice in a different style of karate. I took my daughter (6 - very nearly 7) along to a class last week, she LOVES it, I mean, she doesn't just turn up and train, she turns up, trains and has fun!

 

Being that I have a shodan in Shotokan, but am a novice in the new style, my daughter wants to train at home with me, my fear being that I break into my old Shotokan ways (new style is Kyokushon off-shoot). 

 

I guess my main question is this, what are people's views on young children learnign a martial art? I want my daughter to learn how to protect herself, especially for when she gets older, goes to secondary school, college etc etc, I feel it is VERY important (it could be that I have a warped sense of what goes on in the workd now a days - mixture of self defence training and work I am afraid).

Marc
Marc's picture

Hi Marcus,

it seems you found a nice dojo with a good kids instructor. When kids have fun, they learn. There's two articles by Jesse Enkamp that apply here:

http://www.karatebyjesse.com/karate-kids-children-instructor-3-secrets/

http://www.karatebyjesse.com/how-to-be-good-karate-parent-secret/

Your post contains three questions, as I understand it.

a) Would it be a problem if you would fall into your Shotokan ways while being a home training partner to your Kyokushin daughter?

b) Should young children (about 6-8 years old) learn a martial art and in what way should it be taught to them?

c) Is there a need for young children to learn to protect themselves from violence, and should we start at that young age (around 7) to prepare them for the kind of violence they might face later in life (around 14 or older?)? Oh, and are martial arts a good way for them to learn to protect themselves?

With respect to a) I would say: 7-year-olds are pretty perceptive. If you start doing stuff differently from what she learns in the dojo, she will probably go and correct you. It's your chance to learn the "new way" together with your daughter. By the way: Learning another way to do the "same stuff" will probably deepen your understanding of it if you try to find the commonalities. Have fun and good luck. :)

Questions b) and c) are very broad questions each. So let me just light a spark for the discussion of each:

b) Should young children (about 6-8 years old) learn a martial art and in what way should it be taught to them?

It certainly depends on what kind of martial it is and on how the kids are introduced to the chosen martial art. Anyhow, I think some important milestones in the development of children have to be taken into account. For example:

Kids learn empathy at about the age of 4 to 6. Therefore I think it does not make sense to start earlier, because martial arts are a social activity, particularly with regard to partner drills (kumite and the like). I would suggest that young children should be taught playfully and they should learn to be responsible (care for one another).

Kids' eye-hand-coordination is more or less fully developed by the age of 8, and their eye-foot-coordination by the age of 10. Therefore I think martial arts that rely heavily on punching and kicking (like Karate) really only make sense from 10 years on. Of course there are ways to playfully work with younger children in a safe way, so their lack of coordination does not pose a problem.

Gichin Funakoshi writes in Karate-Do Kyohan: "Karate training may extend over one's entire life, beginning […] ideally in junior high school years [i.e. 11-14 years of age]."

c) Is there a need for young children to learn to protect themselves from violence, and should we start at that young age (around 7) to prepare them for the kind of violence they might face later in life (around 14 or older?)? Oh, and are martial arts a good way for them to learn to protect themselves?

There are people on the forum who are much more qualified than me to answer this.

Personally I teach a group of kids who are 8-13 years old. We do kihon, kata, games (usually with some relation to kihon, but others just for fun), and some simple, non-lethal school-yard "self-defense" like getting free from wrist grips, bear hugs, avoiding being shoved and the like. Usually I use kata-moves for the "self-defense" stuff, so they see the connection. I do take it seriously, but it's all playfull, and we also don't train for competition. During the last weeks I presented them with a quote from Funakoshi's 20 precepts at the end of each lesson and let them talk about it for a few minutes. They loved that.

Take care

Marc

Quick2Kick
Quick2Kick's picture

My daughter is 3 and we wrestle in the bed almost every day. Its a game we play and she loves it. I yell out the moves in a play voice as we go. " Oh no! You put me in side control. Im gonna escape your side control and put you in my guard." She will say "I'm gonna escapey pants your guard dad" and does. :)

In the july 2013 edition of masuccess there is an interview with Dan Inosanto's daughter. In it she talked about training with her dad. She recounted a story of her at a restaurant and him placing a butter knife in her side while sitting next to her. He then asked her what would you do in this situation. She said he was always training her and would turn it into little games they played.

No child is to young or old to learn, you just have to teach at their level

Marc
Marc's picture

Kenei Mabuni (son of Kenwa Mabuni, the founder of Shito Ryu) writes in "Leere Hand" ("Empty Hand") in a short chapter on Karate for children (quickly translated by me from the German version):

For example, one should not go and explain complicated issues to primary school students. One should rather try to become their friend and play with them. One should kneel down to be at eye-level with them. In the heart one should also betake oneself to the same level as the children. If one can become one with them and can play with them, then they will also open their heart.

In a similar way one must approach middleschool or college students. I.e. one must not try to adjust others to one's own standards, but adjust oneself to the other person.[...] If one approaches students in this manner, then age and language don't matter. The important thing is to meet at eye-level and to enjoy being together.

Quick2Kick wrote:

My daughter is 3 and we wrestle in the bed almost every day. Its a game we play and she loves it.

We play a similar game: Each of us tries to touch the other one's nose or chest with the finger tips, and we try to avoid that with stickiness (like mochimi or kakie). It's a lot of fun, it's safe, and it has proven to be a good way to channel the anger small children can sometimes exhibit.  

Tau
Tau's picture

There are some amazing dojo out there that teach practical stuff in a fun and safe way. The caveat, of course, is that there are plenty of McDojo that will make the most of your child's enthusiasm to fleece you for every penny whilst giving away grades and teaching crap.

I believe that Martial Arts is an invaluable life experience and every child should have the option to train in is something.