First of all, Hello! This is my first post on these forums. I practise Wado Ryu Karate in Victoria, Australia. I'm a Nidan with almost 10 years experience. So, by comparison, I'm still fairly new to the Martial Arts.

I'm becoming concerned by the number of young children joining the dojo where I train. Some as young as 5.

Now I take my training very seriously, and don't believe that it should be used as a cheap form of child care or baby sitting. The majority of children that join up are there purely to muck around and maybe learn some Karate along the way. The parents insist they want their child to learn discipline and self defence, yet protest as soon as they are given push ups for acting out of line.

I do realise that they are children and not adults lol But maybe the dojo isn't the place for after school sports? Perhaps sign them up for footy?

Your thoughts?

Osu.

Most definitely seperate training. Seperate flloor space and time. Preferably seperate instructors.

Probably need a separate class for kids of that age. 5 year olds have barely started school and aren't ready for the way most MA classes run. They need a higher teacher/helper : student ratio and the class structure ideally needs to be different. Maybe suggest something to your instructor?

I'm only 18 but i take training super serious..

My instructors will only allow kids from 6 years and up to join the club.

yes they mess about but there are enough of us more serious folk to concentrate on what we have to do and our dojo is huge anyways so its little to no bother & we all started somewhere.

the thing that annoys me most is another purple belt, younger than myself, in the line im in messing around. now thats irritating

My question would be...Is the head/owner of your dojo trying to make it a viable business...as in "for profit"?

If not, in my opinion of course, I sure wouldn't be taking kids that young. If he/she is trying to make money from their dojo, then why not a martial arts based day care? Money is money, and in this economy you've got to do what you have to to survive.

Certainly, kids as young as 5 should not be training with adults unless there is an instructor assigned just to helping the kids. Even then, it can certainly be a distraction.

I agree that the kids that young should be seperated. This isn't always viable, but if there are enough of them, then they should be in their own class.

I concur with everyone that have said that kids shouldn't train with adults. Imho, no one's going to learn anything of any value under these circumstances.

Good luck!

First of all, Hello! This is my first post on these forums. I practise Wado Ryu Karate in Victoria, Australia. I'm a Nidan with almost 10 years experience. So, by comparison, I'm still fairly new to the Martial Arts.

I'm becoming concerned by the number of young children joining the dojo where I train. Some as young as 5.

Now I take my training very seriously, and don't believe that it should be used as a cheap form of child care or baby sitting. The majority of children that join up are there purely to muck around and maybe learn some Karate along the way. The parents insist they want their child to learn discipline and self defence, yet protest as soon as they are given push ups for acting out of line.

I do realise that they are children and not adults lol But maybe the dojo isn't the place for after school sports? Perhaps sign them up for footy?

Your thoughts?

Osu.

Separate the training, definitely.

Make sure the parents understand what martial arts and karate really is. It is about discipline. It is about fighting. It is about self defense. It is about fitness. I've had a few calm and educating conversations with children/adult students, parents and fellow instructors alike. It's not a bad thing to occasionally say, "If your kid isn't willing to learn than he doesn't belong in the class." If they want something else, there are other sport outlets for them.

First of all, Hello! This is my first post on these forums. I practise Wado Ryu Karate in Victoria, Australia. I'm a Nidan with almost 10 years experience. So, by comparison, I'm still fairly new to the Martial Arts.

I'm becoming concerned by the number of young children joining the dojo where I train. Some as young as 5.

Now I take my training very seriously, and don't believe that it should be used as a cheap form of child care or baby sitting. The majority of children that join up are there purely to muck around and maybe learn some Karate along the way. The parents insist they want their child to learn discipline and self defence, yet protest as soon as they are given push ups for acting out of line.

I do realise that they are children and not adults lol But maybe the dojo isn't the place for after school sports? Perhaps sign them up for footy?

Your thoughts?

Osu.

The problem may not be the 5 year old children learning karate, but a lack of understanding of how they should be managed. Far better ways to keep children interested than giving them push ups.