ialwaysgethit Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 how young do to take children. if really young how do you seperate the ages and grades and how do you let them progress. does any bodies insurance effect it at all on what age you can take them at. seen people take them at three and four, how doyou keep their attention. oliver willison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G95champ Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 I've taught kids and trained with kids and I know some kids are differant but as a rule I would not put any kid in Martial Arts until they are 12. Anything below that is just to young. Why 12 well thats the age they can't play little league anymore and not all are good enought to play JR high or High School sports so its a good transition time. Before that age they are just mocking the moves and not understanding them as well. Sure they are athletic and can do splits, rolls, combo kicks but what do they KNOW? IMO not much. Its a waste of time and money. Thats just my 2 cents. (General George S. Patton Jr.) "It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ialwaysgethit Posted December 19, 2003 Author Share Posted December 19, 2003 thank you very much. we have generally taken them at 8, assasable upoj age, growth and knowledge and muturity. any age below that and they are just to hard and time consuming for the other children. iwe always get strange comment when we do not take them below that age (ie 7,6,5,4 years old) as they want us to disipline them. oh no, parents do that. any more help thank you oliver willison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasori_Te Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 I made the mistake of agreeing to teach the son of a friend that was 6. I will never do that again. I won't take anyone else under the age of ten. A block is a strike is a lock is a throw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue26 Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 The school I was at before started them at 4 and 5. "Follow not in the footsteps of the masters, but rather seek what they sought." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G95champ Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 IMO when a school has to take young kids like that they are doing to to pay the rent or get rich. LOL Kids are a gold mine you can sell them anything and mommy and daddy will buy it but as far as teaching them you can't do it. They are unalbe to think in the abstract. Again sure they can do all the physical moves but they don't know or understand what they are doing. Again they are exceptions Im sure but as a rule pre teens can't understand the ideas behind the art. Thus its wasted money and time. (General George S. Patton Jr.) "It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue26 Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 IMO when a school has to take young kids like that they are doing to to pay the rent or get rich. LOL . I agree. "Follow not in the footsteps of the masters, but rather seek what they sought." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gheinisch Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 Our Hanshi takes no one under the age of twelve. He charges nothing for the lessons and doesn't want to become a day care for parents who want a night out on the town. He also believes as G95 stated that they don't really learn that much. They can do the moves but how much do they really absorb? Another thing to consider is the parents of these young students. Our Hanshi at one time had five schools and said the parents will put tremendous pressure on you to promote their son or daughter to the next rank even if they are not ready. The feel they are paying for color of the belt their son/daughter is wearing. Some of the Sensei's here may be able to tell you more on that. I'm sure they have had some experience with this. Kids are great and some are like sponges, just feed them knowledge and they learn very quickly. But no younger then twelve. IMHO "If your hand goes forth withhold your temper""If your temper goes forth withold your hand"-Gichin Funakoshi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasori_Te Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 I will qualify add to my above statement by saying that I will not promote anyone under 17 to Shodan. All my younger students are aware of this up front. As such I usually don't keep younger students that long. They get bored and go away. I usually refer them to the ATA belt factory around the corner. I don't teach for the money so it doesn't affect me adversely to do this. A block is a strike is a lock is a throw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squawman Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 I teach kids as young as 3. And with that in mind here is how you do it. You can not teach a 3 and 4 year old the same way you teach a 6, 7 year old just like you don't teach a 10 year old the same way you teach a 30 year old. We have all these classes separate and the 3-4 year olds only come in once a week for 30 min. We teach them alot of focus drills and work on self control among other things. You guys are exactly right when you say they don't grasp the concept of martial arts thats why we look at it from the point of having the student for years and making them into a great martial artist or at least a great person. How many parents come into your studio and say "I want my kid to be able to do a great jump hook kick." They always come in and say they want focus and self control. So thats what needs to be focused on whether they are 3 or 13. Bottom line is that it takes a special person to teach very young kids and I think with our studio having approximately 60 kids from ages 3-7 we are very successful at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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