I’m considering signing my six year old up for martial arts class, but I’m not sure which one to choose. To be clear, it’s not because we’re dealing with a bullying situation or anything like that. It’s more about starting a new physical activity, but I do want my kid to get some self-defense skills out of it. Our local options appear to be Taekwondo, Kung-fu, and Jiu-Jitsu/MMA. I did Taekwondo when I was a kid and it was fine, but I’m not sure that it’s practical for self defense. Jiu-Jitsu/MMA seems very practical for self-defense, but the studios that offer it seem a little bit too blue-lives-matter for my liking. As for Kung-fu, I just know nothing about it.
How did you decide on a martial art for your kids?
The most important thing is going to be a kind of vibes check. I had a similar question from a friend so I already had this written up:
Good questions to ask:
what are the last 5 injuries that happened to your students and when? And are they still training?- injuries happen but this question should help you know how often they happen and maybe why/ some places might not take care of their people as much
What are all the fees I should expect to pay: monthly? Belt testing? Tournaments? Weapons? Uniform?
Are there any kids around thier age training?- training with friends will help you keep going
How many black belts do you have that train regularly?- this one is a sign of a health dojo because getting a black belt is really just the first step, honestly after black is where all the cool stuff starts happening
Also most places will allow you a free class or two or at least to watch.
For my recommendation, which has 19 years of bias within karate. (I know super bias) Taekwondo- it would not be my first recommendation. In the US tends to be much more fitness and sport than art. You find a good Korean who knows their stuff, great… most that I’ve seen are white dudes walking around as 10th degrees in their 30s for some reason.
Jujitsu/mma- I would generally advise against it mostly due to the types of meatheads it attracts. Not saying it’s bad, but it’s not my preference or recommendation. Also super easy for said meatheads to give your arm/knee some extra juice and now you are dealing with a sprain or worse. (Our saying was 2 most dangerous students were white belts and black belts but for very different reasons)
Kung fu- I have a lot of respect for the art and style that I’ve seen in a lot of kung fu schools and even trained in tai chi myself for some time. The art as well as the self defense are strong. I would recommend kung fu the most of these 3 schools in your area just by style alone.
All that said it depends on if the school itself is good and if your kid is going to have fun and keep up with it. Also considering you trained as a kid, you might want to pick it back up with your kid. There are very few activities that you and your kid could start together. I saw it many times families of different ages starting at white and going to black. It’s a unique opportunity that doesn’t happen in a lot of other things, soccer, baseball etc.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I saw your other comment about the jujitsu mma being good self defense. I would argue that it has inflated its reputation due to its prevalence in tv mma as a winning style. It is very good for what it does with submissions, but only so far as the rules protect the fighters. The best way to get out of a grapple is break a finger or gouge an eye or an elbow drop to the base of the spine… no one wants that in an organize fight. This is their job, so the rules thankfully protect them against that. And in a self defense scenario with 2 people, you really don’t want to take 1 to the ground and hope the other guy just stands there. Best defense is going to be to get out of there.