Teaching my daughter.

Kframe

For what it's worth I'm 47 and have been trying karate for 6 months now. I am forever having my stance corrected, but it doesn't bother me because I have no-expectation of having it right yet. I even see much higher belts having their stance corrected in their advanced Katas. I agree with the others you might have your expectations of your 6 year old set a little high.

I am only a beginner at MA generally and know nothing about boxing, but the one thing that my karate instructors often offer is to watch the lines on the mat, tiles, or, basically the surface we are standing on at any time. Your daughter might find that type of idea useful, but to be honest you might be taking the joy out of it if you try too hard to get her to comply with your ideal at her age. I don't doubt that it is relatively important to get sorted, but she is only 6 isn't she?

 

Thanks the advice. Last night i tried something different. I kept it very short. I had her in a state of giggles the entire time. First i simplified everything. I did a jump into my fighting stance and said ok sissy you jump into your stance. Bango it works. Granted its a L shaped stance(foot placement is a long L) and she immediately brought her guard up.

Now I could tell she was trying hard, switching back and forth from the karate stance to a longish boxing type guard. So i simply told her dont worry about were her hands were but to just keep them up. With the caveat that which ever foot is forward that hand should be forward. She understood that.

After that, i threw a few practice punch's and she covered most of them well.

To finish off the short lesson i challanged her to kick me. I have never shown her the Round kick, but have taught her the Snapping front kick. However i practice my round kick frequently and she watch's. So for a minute she is chasing me around the living room and is trying to kick anything she can get her feet on.

Now this whole time she is giggling like a school girl, however its what happend half way through that had her rolling on the ground.

You see she had been trying to do a Thai style round kick on my legs/****/what ever she could connect with. Now it looked like a club being swung but it was awesome she was trying. When out of the blue she popped a perfect front snap kick with her rear leg and instep and nailed the family jewels with precision and power. I nearly dropped to my knees and she burst out laughing..

I was totally caught off guard by this as she IMHO didnt really have the front kick. She could lift her knee then extend it, all very slowly. However during our air practice it tended to look like a soccer kick. Well this time it was not a soccer kick but a nicely chambered snap kick....

Well for the remainder of the practice she kept trying to do snap kick my jewels so i decided to randomly do a low parry on it. Hilarity ensues as doing a low parry on her front kick very nearly turns her whole body around.

If this kind of short and giggly practice is really conducive to training a youngun then ill keep doing it. I honestly didnt think such practice was helpful. However as pointed out, she is not a little adult so maybe i need to bring out my inner child and play a bit.

Now should i start adding in round kicks to our game/teaching time or wait for a while and just keep on our new path??

 

Keep it fun for her. It sounds like it is fun for you as well. Super awesome bonding moment! Keep it random and fun

 

Also wanted to mention, that she also tried "slipping" a few times. Now what she was doing was interesting. She would twist away from the attack. Trying to imitate the slip i showed her. Having seen what she is doing i think i can get her used to the idea of moving away from a attack. I showed a nice tight right slip, so when the "punch" came at her she would twist away and to the right, often with a step. Dodging but not really in a good position.

So im thinking i can come up with a short game based on moving the body side to side kinda like weaving. I think that will be a good and fun introduction. Ill get the puzzle mats out and get on my knees and have her throw a few punch's at my head and ill demonstrate the weave. Or i can just have mommy punch me and demonstrate it standing.(sure nothing could go wrong here riiiiggghhhttt...)

I think she would have some fun doing a circular kind of game of tag. I try to tag her and she has to weave away from it and i have to do the same.

 

Did you come up with the jumping into stance or did someone give you the idea?

It is a really good way to develop full body movements while taking the "over thinking" our of body mechanics. It is important not to have her "rise-up" with the jumping but to keep her head down without leaning.

See [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wupb54DoTJM"]Duck and 5 Punch Combo - Master K Muay Thai - YouTube[/ame] for a head movement exercise.

I have the above drill as part of what I teach, except from a more bladed alignment with more jumps and a step in to jab under the arm, but otherwise it is the same, especially the focus on not rising up and jumping with authority.

I've got three or four other jumping drills used for developing body mechanics with power generation also.

 

The jumping into stance thing just randomly came to me. I was trying to think of a way to take all the guess work out. I was also thinking of basic stances mma and boxing. When it hit me that if i have her jump into stance she will be in a very decent boxing stance. So i jumped and told her to mimic me.

What came from it was even better then i hoped. She ended im in a long L stance, VERY bladed to me but with lead leg/foot pointed forward. As of now its the way i am having her move into stance now.

Not sure what rise up means, but she isnt over extending like coming off the ground like a vaulter. Just a little jump a spring into stance. For now i have not really worked her head and shoulders as i dont want to confuse her or add more then she can handle.

So right now she has relaxed shoulders and her head is level.. As she gets more comfortable im going to add raising the shoulders and tucking the chin.

Tonight we did 2 drills back to back that felt like one large drill/game. One was just side to side weaving. The other was the bob and weave. She loved the bob and weave and a at the beginning of it even with out prompt did a counter uppercut while coming out of the bob. So our bob and weave drill be came weave and bob then counter. She loved it.

At the end of the drill she did something i was not prepared for and for a moment was lost as to how to proceed. It was the last play through of the drill, she had just finished punching me and i do my best to weave(im on my knees, and she has no telegraph of her strikes...) but i get tagged more often then not. So i throw my punch and she out of no where does a close face palm parry with the lead hand...

My mind actually locked up for a moment. Then it registered with me how excited she was that she actually did it and that she remembered not to let her hand go past her cheek.( you know a nice tight parry)

She kept her hand on my arm waiting instruction and my mind had to catch up. So i congratulated her and walked her through a basic parry/pass/attack setup. She passed the parry to her rear hand which did a trapping motion by pressing it downwards while she counter punched my chin. Sure it was rudimentary and slow but it was epic..

She watched a Floyd Mayweather Jr video and thought it was cool, "WOW he must be the best!".

Im really tempted to drop all of my martial plans for my self and take both of us to my old boxing club..

 

That video is nice, ill try and watch it a few more times this weekend and see if i can get the principals from it.

Whats messed up is, working with her, is re-polishing my boxing skills which were only basic to begin with.. I hope she surpasses me.

 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9je3P-_NmU"]Baby Lion & Tiger playing - YouTube[/ame]

You watch any predator learn to fight, learn to hunt and they do it through play.

 

Kframe, another thing I wondered was how often do you try and get your daughter to train?

My feeling is that no more than 45mins to an hour maybe twice a week is probably sufficient at that age, and then only if she wants to do so. If you are trying to encourage her more than that it might be counter-productive. That isn't based on anything I know about MA's it's just based on my own experience with my kids - useful attention spans are very short at that age. I would also not expect her to remember more than the odd thing from session to session either. Remember even in an adult it takes a repetition of about 21+ times before something becomes instinctive or so my training to be a trainer told me.

 

I like your post.

She is at the age when he can force her to train (as long it is within reason). When she gets older, between school, friends, and all, there is good chance she will choose to quit.

@Kframe:

Just encourage a good work ethic. Consistent times with her. Twice a week is fine to me. Usually at her age, 30 minutes is the longest they can go without losing interest, IME. If you bring in others to the training, that should be extra, IMHO, because you will lose that one-on-one time with her. It is more about spending quality time with her than training to fight.

I suggest at around 30-40 minutes, spend the next 10 minutes playing some kind of game. There are a few that most kids like but they work better in groups, like the pile on game where they all grab on and try to keep you from standing up. One-on-one you can do more mental games like solving riddles or brain teasers while stretching or doing wall sits, etc.

Also, occasionally go on field trips instead of just training boxing in an orthodox manner. Stuff like "today we rake the lawn" and "wash the car" only using boxing principles but this might be too karate kid like for you.

You know your daughter better. Be firm but flexible. And always have a plan B, C, D, etc.

 

Rebel Wado, I wonder how deliberately you used the word 'force'. You are quite correct, he can 'force' her to train, however, I rather hope that he doesn't ;-D

One thing I did forget to put into that post is that another thing to be aware of is that some kids will do things to please their parents rather than say that they don't want to do something. It is something that I can guarantee happens, but is a very difficult thing to deal with as, even if you tell children to tell you what they want, they will quite often insist on telling you what they think you want to hear.

 

My son hated being moved from a school and I suppose our will was imposed but some things can't be ignored. Although many did

 

I deliberately used the word "force" but maybe that term is too forceful

I meant forced as in make it part of her routine, like going to school, music lessons, sports practice, etc. So if there is some reason to break the routine for a day, that needs to be communicated ahead of time so it isn't a big let down.

Part of the fun is in the anticipation after all.

 

Not really for a variety of reasons. 1. Im still obese, so i would jiggle like a lard filled balloon. 2. My total mma/boxing experience is 1 year so i would look better then a first day newb but worse then just about everyone with more experience. However i have been told i look ok other wise(technique wise) but i accept that generally i look not great.

Should i be concerned regarding this line of questioning? Why do i get the feeling im going to regret this.

 

I think total time is maybe an hour and a half a week. We do it for maybe 15-20 minutes every day. Interspersed with off topic play.

 

I dont know if she will quit it or not, however i do know she recognizes the need for basic skills thanks to her dealings with brother.

I dont force her to do it, i ask. It usually comes as part of overall father daughter play time. It is part of her play time, she knows it is a learning time for her but i make it fun and we have a fun game attached to it. Im currently thinking about a game of tag but adding in parrying. I can get into this game thing.

She is good at telling me when she is done and i dont push it.

With regards to other activities she is a very active kid, currently doing gymnastics and wants way more of it then i can afford. She values being active and wants to be as fit as a olympic gymnast.

It is my goal to go with her flow and help her develop her own way. I just want to be part of it.

 

Training formally is good. Training formally and being supported by a parent who models dedicated behaviour for you, that's worth its weight in gold. When she does start formal training I think it will pay off even if he's not the most technically sound.

And who knows it may just motivate him to get more serious about training so he can help his daughter in future

 

Well for one im not teaching her beyond my ability. I only know basics which incidentally is what i did a heck of a lot of in my various travels. I feel that i can show her what i know and after that its up to someone else.

So in your opinion i should not be teaching my daughter? Its been good for me, re polishing old skills and doing something fun with her.

Edit to add. I took that the wrong way. Ill admit to being insulted. However i can see your point. My opinion on the matter, if its a generic parent with no skill at all then no they should leave it to someone else. However people in my situation who have a bit of experience can teach their kids as long they dont go beyond their current level of ability. I personally had boxing basics drilled into me by a very skilled boxer and and my subsequent mma instructor. I feel confidant in my boxing punch's as my coach has told me they look good. I am also confidant in the defenses i am teaching her as i am only teaching her things i have learned and used in a sparring situation.

However that is the extent of my skill and i will not even be attempting to go further then that with her. I doubt ill be taking her that far as eventually sooner rather then later she will be under professional tutelage.