kids..

[major_motoko]

I'm kinda unsure about the whole thing. I used to teach white belt kids and I have to say, most of the under 12s really didn't get what it was they were doing. They didn't really understand at all

 

I'm sure there are exceptions but I think below 10-12 years old, it's all just fun and games to them.. which isn't a bad thing.. it just isn't really martial arts.

 

Hope I haven't offended anyone who started young (I started at 15). Perhaps it all seemed fun to you at first, and then when you reached a certain age it suddenly made sense, and because you already knew the basics, you could then become a great martial artist?

[Tal]

major motoko, i started at 7 and i understood fairly well what i was being tought, and i was being tought with adult white belts. my understanding improved as i grew older, but it was never just fun and games for me.

 

this is why i think it is down to the individual student and the individual sensei. there certainly are many young students who simply don't get it. i think this is either because those students don't have the mental maturity to learn (this varies between people of the same age) or don't have the right attitude about it, or their sensei simply dosn't have the skill to teach very young students and explain to them what is going on.

 

traditionally, students didn't just enroll in a club. there weren't any age limits. the sensei would select what students that he/she felt capable of learning, and the he/she felt capable of teaching. this would often include tests prior to actual training to see if the student was worthy. age wasn't an absolute barrier; the potential student was either worthy or not. of course, you cannot have this system in modern society because parents will complain about discrimination and stuff. this forces senseis to adopt age limits, which will leave out younger students who are perhaps more capable than odler ones. if a modern day sensei opts to have no age limits, he/she will end up with students that aren't capable of learning (or that the sensei isn't capable of teaching, whichever way you want to put it).

[IAMA_chick]

thanks for your input everyone.

[wilko9999]

for karate i think that i they could start at 4-5, butr we have a kid class then when the kid go home we start a adult lesson.

 

L8er

[Drunken Monkey]

this is one of those things that depends on the child in question and the circumstances.

[aznkarateboi]

10 years old. any younger and you wouldn't appreciate the art. younger people have shorter attention spans and would gain less out of training

[Gino]

You can't put an age on this really.It depends on the child.

[Treebranch]

5 years old.

[GrrrArg]

It does indeed depend on the child.

 

But it also depends on the instructor, some just aren't capable of teaching children, this isn't a bad thing and its not their fault, but children are harder to teach because of the low attention spans and understanding.

[King of Fighters]

i dont think kids should join unless they are at least 7 or over. Its rediculas to have little 3, 4, and 5 year old children be learning MA's, they cant even dress themselves or crap in the toilet, let alone learn katas.