Teaching children/youths: is it vital?

[DWx]

Yeah, those are the stats, and I'd say they are pretty close to that now, too. What I'm saying is that there doesn't seem to be an interested adult demographic here, or in many rural areas that I've seen. Yes, there are plenty of adults; but I don't know how many adults there are with spare time on their hands to put in two or three hours of training per week.

This is a really good point.

Kids are also the right demographic to target in that most parents are looking for after school activities for them and kids will generally have lots of free time for hobbies. Adults have fewer hobbies and even less time, especially if they have their own families and are karting the kids around to their own activities.

[sensei8]

Yeah, those are the stats, and I'd say they are pretty close to that now, too. What I'm saying is that there doesn't seem to be an interested adult demographic here, or in many rural areas that I've seen. Yes, there are plenty of adults; but I don't know how many adults there are with spare time on their hands to put in two or three hours of training per week.

This is a really good point.

Kids are also the right demographic to target in that most parents are looking for after school activities for them and kids will generally have lots of free time for hobbies. Adults have fewer hobbies and even less time, especially if they have their own families and are karting the kids around to their own activities.

Perhaps.

I guess I'll be taking the negative, and not the affirmative in this particular debate.

I've always believed that not one adult is really that busy to not learn any MA, no matter their excuse(s). If they've any "free time", then they've time to learn the MA. Needs and wants decide that; MA is a want, and not a need. Therefore, to train in the MA, one has to really want it. If the want is strong, then they'll find the time to learn the MA, kids activities or not.

Imho.

[aurik]

From my personal experience, the vast majority of the adults at our school also have kids in the school. That can happen in a couple of different ways: they sign the kid up and then the adult decides to try it and really likes it, or they sign up together (as something to do together as a family), or the adult is a student and their kid wants to join along.

The vast majority I've seen fall into the first 2 categories. Of our adult black belts, almost all of them have either been training since they were kids or they have kids that are (or were) enrolled.

So I guess what I'm suggesting is if you teach the kids, the adults may follow.

[bushido_man96]

From my personal experience, the vast majority of the adults at our school also have kids in the school. That can happen in a couple of different ways: they sign the kid up and then the adult decides to try it and really likes it, or they sign up together (as something to do together as a family), or the adult is a student and their kid wants to join along.

The vast majority I've seen fall into the first 2 categories. Of our adult black belts, almost all of them have either been training since they were kids or they have kids that are (or were) enrolled.

So I guess what I'm suggesting is if you teach the kids, the adults may follow.

This is what I've seen in my experience, as well. I see a more likely chance of this happening when the classes are mixed, and not separated into kids and adult classes. That way, they get the feeling of truly training together.

Perhaps.

I guess I'll be taking the negative, and not the affirmative in this particular debate.

I've always believed that not one adult is really that busy to not learn any MA, no matter their excuse(s). If they've any "free time", then they've time to learn the MA. Needs and wants decide that; MA is a want, and not a need. Therefore, to train in the MA, one has to really want it. If the want is strong, then they'll find the time to learn the MA, kids activities or not.

Imho.

I absolutely agree with you here, Bob. I think the vast majority probably feel like they don't have the time to dedicate to it.

[Spartacus Maximus]

There are quite a few people in martial arts who have made it a lifelong endeavour and to some of us it may be have become a “need” because we may have organized our lives with it as a priority for our physical and mental well-being as well our living. It’s easy to forget that for most people adult or not, martial arts training is not always easy to make time for with every other want and need at a particular stage in life.

Education, work or both take up so much time in the average person’s life that making a choice to spend some of that precious free time on what is mostly considered a hobby can be difficult. Especially when there are so many choices and other obligations.