What to Study?

Question

A friend of mine has little kids, and well wants em to learn to be safe
Now most MMA guys are Brutes, and well all they see is an ability to fight. Is this good for children, or should they learn not to fight?
Should athletics come first?
Whats better for children?

Answer 1

If the teacher is teaching martial arts properly, then the children WILL learn not to fight.

I would personally suggest finding a school that takes it slow and is not primarily interested in charging testing fees for promotions and cranking out as many black belt students as it can.

Then again -- there's peer pressure...
If a child is learning at a school that promotes students slower than schools where his/her friends are going, they may be in for some grief from those who achieved a higher rank in a shorter period of time.

Answer 2

If you want a mix of healthy exercise while learning effective self-defense for children, then I'd suggest Judo. I myself study Aikido, but I think that Aikido is a bit too complicated for small children. Judo has lots of aerobic "action" that keeps kids interested...and entertained. The striking arts like Karate or Tae Kwon Do teach the wrong life-lessons to small kids...in my opinion (i.e. punching & kicking, whereas Judo is more akin to wrestling).

For what it's worth....

Answer 3

This depends on the child's personality. I think team sports are important for children, because they learn interaction skills and teamwork.

When it comes to martial arts, I think the parents need to assess their own child's needs, and determine if they can handle it. Sometimes waiting a while is the right thing.

Answer 4

if what you want then to learn is self defense I would recommend Hapkido or Aikido they are both very alike and they are great for kids, I would like to recommend Taekwondo but that is more a sport in most schools now then it is a martial art, you would have to find the right school and those are hard to find when it comes to true traditional TKD, but it is a fun one for children to learn and they can compete in it as well if you are interested in that...

Hapkido and Aikido are very easy for children to learn and VERY realistic other Martial arts are good and very fun but not all are realistic when it comes to a real life situation. judo and jujitsu are also very good for self defense. it really depend es on what exactly you would like your kids to achieve and learn.

Answer 5

America Taekwondo Association is the best for kids because they have a good program called Tiny Tigers or Karate for Kids program and also have Junior Leadership program it helps them to learn to go tournaments to make nice good friends and a good sportsmanship attitude. If you put in there they will love it!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

it does depend on the child and thier age.

Generally I would steer a younger child towards a grappling art as it is going to give them the physical fitness aspect for certain, they can use it for self-defence, and you certainly won't worry about them bieng hurt or learning to strike when they are not mature enough to deal with realistic striking training. which means hitting, and bieng hit.

Answer 7

Martial arts taught me reflexes more than anything else, and it made me realize that exercise DOES make one stronger, and I might have been exuberant in my running around and kicking, but there is really nothing better to teach your kids health and discipline.

Answer 8

Wrestling.

Answer 9

krav maga or aikido