Has anyone heard of this class? It's for 3-5 year olds and as Deonaid will be 3 in April I'm quite interested. I'd like to get her in to tkd and this is the only class I can find that takes them young enough. Any help would be much appreciated!!
Bit of controversy with this one, so i'll word it carefully. Is the class teacher trained in dealing with this age group rather than just as a normal Taekwondo instructor? do they teach proper full on tkd ( they shouldn't be) Is it mostly games they play? are the games designed for specific reasons,( and getting a child fit isn't the answer you're looking for) or just to fill in time. ask these questions when enquiring
Well according to the website : The programme is designed to encourage the development of motor skills, balance, endurance, flexibility, strength, and the coordination of eye, hand and foot. Through this development, each child should find greater self-confidence and self-esteem. http://www.littletigercubs.co.uk/training.html It doesn't say too much on the site, but I don't know any kids currently attending and just curious how the kids themselves find it
Personally I think the best thing for kids of that age to do is a sort of gymnastic judo. Plenty of rough and tumble, games and confidence building. Learning how to handle their bodies through space. TKD I feel is not the best vehicle for such things IMHO.
i teach tkd tigers were tkd is more of a sideline, we teach stranger awareness, anti bullying, fire danger, road skills, teamwork,but with games to match and improves these skills and other themes. teaching a class of 3 and 4 year olds is way more demanding on the mind than any other class you'll teach. they do love rough and tuble stuff though....
be on your best behaviour paddy,i think this is the same group as last time that caused us some aggro on this site but i may be wrong. gem, if it's who i think it is it will cost you £26 a month by direct debit for one 45 minute class a week but i think you get a suit and licence included. not sure if it's good or bad but i think you get a free trial lesson so what have you got to lose by giving it a try.
My club has Tiny Kicker which is for 4-6 year olds. I like helping out with it and I can definitely see an improvement in kids who come in hyper and they don't listen, after a little while in the program they are less hyper and the listen better. We also play games with them every week.
Just thought I'd offer my thoughts as someone who both teaches Little Ninjas (Karate) and has had his own children go through the program. Even for a Little Ninjas type program 3 is too young. They may be able to participate effetively in the program but before they start school there is only so much a child can learn and so far they can develop. And they can usually do that in 6 months or so regardless of which age they start. So the issue is that once they have reached that point they start to get bored. You can equate itto a child doing an extra year of pre-school. When they start school they fly. So my suggestion. Wait until it is about 6-9 months before she is due to start school. Hope this makes sense and helps.
You are the parent & you must do what is best for your child. The MAs is not imo for little tigers. Little tigers & programs like that cover the fact that MA are not for kids. So they use some elements of the MAs, dumb them down & make them fun & sell it as MAs, when it is simply not MAs. What it is imo is a fun program where kids get baby sat for a time period. They sell it by saying it will help with motor skills, discipline etc. But what the heck do we need to worry about motor skills & discipline for tots, babies, little kids. I would respectfully suggest that you wait till your child is 7+ years old. Build an interest where they want to go & train. Make them earn that & maybe then they will last till the teens years, when they will have more freedom & be exposed to things outside the watchful eyes of their mommies & daddies. This is the time when they will benefit from a traditional MAs program. It is then when the discipline & hard work that they are surrounded by in a traditional MAs school will help give them an alternative to the many negative things they will start to see & experience as they grow older. A traditional MAs program can be a good thing for a youngster. But I would wait till they were much older. I would never let a tot train at 3 or 5 years old. Just remember that most things all kids get exposed to the outgrow. How many teens or women play with dolls? How many teens or men still play with toy soldiers? If they start at 3, chances are they will be quiting before they turn 5. At 5 years of age, they still hold mommies hands whereever they go. You should have your children in a good traditional MAs program when they no longer want to hold your hand. jmo
Yes these programs are designed not for the kids, but for the revenue they bring in for the business. parents are simply not informed, so they fork over the money. save your money till they have been in school for awhile, unless of course you have a specfic problem with your child where a medical professional suggests a little tiger program would help junior with that specific problem, other than that, don't mix up a money making scheme with the MAs
Thanks guys!! I don't have any problems with my daughter , behaviour or otherwise!! I just thought I'd check it out as she wants to do everything!! She does ballet at the mo', she wants to start tap as well as figure skating and tkd. Maybe I'll just stick with ballet for the moment and maybe start her in kicking kids when she's a bit bigger!!
Little Tiger Cubs Instructor Hi, I just came across this topic and as I am a Little Tiger Cubs instructor in Edinburgh I thought I'd give my opinion. I love teaching the Tigers and have really successful classes and lots of the kids are aged 3. It actually helps prepare them for school and they have lots of fun too. Also most of our Tigers go on to do TKD when they are 6 so starting young does not mean they'll get bored. We have a reward system with stickers and Tiger Stripes and as the kids get older they can't wait to get better and go up to the big boys and girls classes. We have the biggest TKD group in Scotland and Little Tiger Cubs helps them learn all the basics before they are promoted to TKD class. This helps prepare them for their first grading. Hope this helps! Kim
Most TKD schools have a variation, Tiny Tigers, Little Dragons, etc. They are designed to teach coordination, how to follow instructions, balance....they don't get much into the self-defense.
I would be careful of "childhood indoctrination" into the MA's. It's normal for MA parents to want their kids to be training in the MA's too, but this may sometimes be undesirable to the child. Of course when you make a child do something they don't want to do, the result may be less then glamorous, too all parties concerned (parents, the kid, fellow students, and instructos). So in this situation, no one really benefits. So I strongly suggest not forcing your child to train, or continue training, if they lose interest. I used to help instruct with the "kiddy-class", often there were students that were forced to train by their parents. They were very hard to teach, and they often disrupted the class, breaking the focus, of otherwise, more serious students. There were a couple times when we had to ask the parents to resign their child from the school. So there is often a very real strain for the instructors themselves. I also have an issue with making kids train in something like the MAs. I don't think that a child is fully prepared to follow the classes mentally, physically, and emotionally (you'd be surprised at how important the latter is). I think the "ideal" age for the MAs, is 10, but 7 is also a fairly good age. Another thing I'd like to point out, is that MAs are a very broad area of study. If your child wishes to train in the MA's, they may not want to be doing the same MA as you. And it may be complicated if you've already started them in TKD. IMHO MA's are a very personal experience, and having the option to train in what I like is very important to me. Of course I'm not trying to convict you of being a bad parent, gemtkd, I just think that these are things to be considered before enrolling you child into a MA program, especially since I've heard that these child specific courses are notoriously expensive. Plus there is a very real chance that you may ruin the MAs for your child, which would be horrible!!
We have a 'first kicks' program. It is for ages 5 to 7 and it is 45 minutes one time a week. They learn middle punches, Chon-ji, kicks, etc, but they also do obstacle courses (do a shoulder roll, run up and kick the bag, do a cartwheel, etc). My view is (as Lad mentioned) don't force them at this age (or really any age). Once a week for a short duration is more than enough. If it is every day for hours on end (essentially baby sitting) then they will get burned out and never have a chance to really see what the MAs can offer. A
Gem, bring her to me if you wish, I would rather help you out as you train with Elite so surely it would be easier for you to train together! I don't know anything about this Tiger cubs Stuart www.tkd-scot.co.uk
