Martial Arts for kids?

Right, seeing as you guys give such good advice, i'm thinking of starting my son (he's 7) in martial arts, but not sure which one. not my strong point, decisiveness haha.

I wanted to take him boxing, but the missus is having none of that after seeing some of the states ive come home in due to boxing, and when i suggested thai boxing she thought i was taking the ****, that it was still just boxing!

so, ive been looking around and there's loads on offer. plenty of karate schools, tang soo do, tae kwon do, kickboxing and a couple of the ones ive been looking into for myself. the tae kwon do could be quite a logical source in the sense that its just down the road, run at our local high school and tyler has plenty of friends already attending the classes who go to the same school as he does. so it seems like an obvious choice conveniance wise, BUT would it be worth it/good for him? i know less than nothing about tae kwon do so thought i'd throw it out here.

Cheers guy's

sam

 

I have three kids. 1 loves Judo but not karate. 1 loves karate and is so-so on the judo. The last one loves karate but doesn't like judo at all. Judo is a good starting point for learning how to fall and roll, if nothing else. You might find that he is partial to one in particular. If you can find a school that maybe has a base style but will mix in others, that would be ideal. Our instructor teaches Karate, but will mix in Judo and JJ at times. Also, not all instructors are created equal of course, too. Finding a good fit as an instructor is huge.

 

yea judo is a good place to start for kids i think, plus alot of times the competition is good for them and they learn good lessons. Id avoid anything where they will give him some blackbelt at 9 and act like he is a fighting machine i still think that with young kids its about learning the basic lessons and having fun or their not going to want to do it.

 

Judo to start then sneak the boxing into the equation. Schoolyard fights are won with your fists

 

Yeah cheers mate, took him along to judo with me tonight, we both joined in (seperate classes) and both enjoyed it, although i'm still going to take him along to TKD and i'm going to try wing chun kung fu before i make any decisions for either of us.

As for him fighting, i think its fairly inevitable to be honest as he's the same as i was at his age. which is one of the reasons i was dragged to the boxing gym at 6 years old. but it did me the world of good. kept me out of trouble, taught me dicipline etc etc so i'm hoping the same will be true with my boy too.

Thanks for the advice.

 

Haha that's exactly what i had planned for the kickboxing/thai boxing but the missus isn't having any of it. your right mate, i don't want him to be 'soft' but i dont want him starting fights either, which is why i want him involved in martial arts, but i also encourage him to take part in team sports too.

 

Been there, done that. Can only recommend it.

 

Simply for the things you have mentioned here mate, ive no interest in him being a fighter, just for the fitness/disipline of it all. ive made a deal with him, just between us, that whichever martial art he picks, (as he's dead keen to start) if he sticks at it for the next 3-4 years then he can start boxing when he goes to high school, so we'll see how it goes, seeing as he's only 7 haha easy to make deals now isn't it.

As for the club/instructor's name, ive no idea mate sorry.all i know is that its at the high school near to where we live and several of his school mates attend. i could find out though.

 

Yep, will do.

And he is just doing it for fun, the only reason ive said he can box if he sticks at whatever he picks now is because boxing was his first choice and he keeps asking why we can't go boxing instead.

cheers for your advice mate

 

I'd start him off with Judo (a "gentle" MA if you like, perhaps sits better with the wife), even if it only were to give yourself an opportunity to see whether or not your son is ready for it. I took my 4yr old to Judo only to find his interest was more in running around the dojo than listen to Master and take part in class.

I'll be taking him to Wushu and Tai Chi class next week, not expecting much from it to be honest, but I'm trying to at least get him interested. If not I'll probably give it a few more years.

Just bring him along a few times, see if he's triggered in any way by what he sees. It's difficult to tell now what he'll like, but if it's the fitness/exercise, discipline and mentality you're after and he's ready for MA, I'll be putting my money on Judo for now

Good luck and please post back about the outcome if you will.

P.S. You may be interested in this interesting thread TKDMitch started.

 

My little baby started boxing tonight. He's done a little before but this is the first to start on his own

 

Lol@ baby. That ferocious looking young man in your avatar is anything but a baby.

 

That was a year ago

 

Exactly my point.

 

He may have even smaller but he'd have been much sharper then. Let's hope he likes it