Age

[aefibird]

The youngest at my karate club is 7. Sensei won't take children under this age.

[Sandan]

I take them from 6, though I asked one person last class his age and he said 'my mommey said I'm 6', but I'm only 4 really!

[Menjo]

9 years in my dojo, it depends.

[TopGun]

It is 3 in my school, they teach them techniques but it is a slow progression for most. They give them a half whit half yellow belt at the mid point so that they can have some sense of achievement. Also due to their short attention span the class is greatly reduced in time, so that way no one gets bored. I have seen a couple of kids that really have a lot of focus at such a young age not to say that they will be black belts at 7...

[Sam]

6 at our dojang - but we wil ltake younger - its generally just to see how they do.... them make a recommendation to the parents.

[Menjo]

wow 3 is really young, i wonder at all if they know what their doing.

[ps1]

I have a special class for 4, 5, and 6 year olds. It's not actually a Karate class however. More a "movement" class. I use karate movements (kicks, punches, Taikyoku kata) to teach them balance, coordination, focus, and control. I also teach some very basic self defense concepts to them. It is most important to me that they have fun. Afterall, what is a childhood without fun? Just sad I say.

Also, no matter what age they begin training, I will not promote them to Shodan-ho before the age of 16. This is to ensure they will be able to better understand the many lessons they will learn during their journey to the first step, and embrace those that come thereafter.

[Karate_Girl_07]

We have a special class twice a week for 4 and 5 year olds, it's much shorter than the normal classes though. One they turn 6 they can go to the kids class then when they turn 12 or so they go to the teen class and the teens can also do the adult classes if they like.

[UsagiYojimbo]

Our school doesn't take anyone under 14; there's no kids class. I really, really like this.

[drunken.master]

We start taking them at 4 years old (20 minutes once a week is all they get though). We begin traiining them to basically breathe, stand still and punch. Once they are used to the surroundings, can listen to instruction, etc., we begin blending them into more structured classes.