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?
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.