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Your Child in Martial Arts | To sign or not to sign | How old | Hidden Costs | Parental involvement

It is finally the big day. The day she's been waiting for. Today, she'll take her first step toward becoming a "real" Power Ranger ... Susie is going to join a local karate school. Everyone is excited, but ...

Have Susie and her parents done their homework?

As visions of Power Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dance in their heads, it's hard to realize that real martial arts classes can be just plain old hard work and at times incredibly boring. So the first step kids and parents should take is to investigate the options available.

There are two avenues to explore before enrolling a child in a martial arts school. With the work required, it really should be more than a spur of the moment whim. First, do some research. There are books on the various martial arts in the library or at bookstores. (Books such as Martial Arts for Dummies and Idiot's Guide to Martial Arts are excellent introductions to a rich, varied and complex subject). And the Internet is a vast treasure trove of fact, fiction, marketing and advertising. But knowledge can be gleaned there. Trust the college and university sites, which generally have valuable information without the hidden agenda of trying to recruit new, young students. Various martial arts organization sites also can offer information on a particular style, as well as schools in the area that teach it.

Martial arts come in many different 'flavors.' Would a soft style, such as Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Aikido or similar arts, fit Susie's personality and physiology better than the harder styles of karate, as seen in Shotokan karate, Tae Kwon Do (TKD) or Kenpo karate? Would a stricter, more formal and codified system that emphasizes proper conduct and self-discipline be better or would a far more athletic, gymnastic and graceful style (such as capoeria) better suit your child? Or, would you as a parent be more comfortable with your child knowing a wrestling and grappling art (such a judo, jujistsu, danzan ryu, chi na)? Not all martial arts styles and schools teach the same thing, so before you go shopping you need to know what you are in the market for.

After investigating the arts, it's time to get in the car and visit local schools. Schools should be more than willing to let parents and potential students observe their classes. If they discourage visitors and observation, bypass them quickly. You should also be wary of schools that try to get you to sign up after watching only one class -- especially when long-term contracts are involved. As a parent, you need to visit a potential school several times before deciding to enroll you child. Watch how the classes are presented, especially children's classes (if those are offered separately). Pay attention to how instructors interact with students. What is being taught? And how is it taught? School instructors should be more than willing to take a few minutes to discuss the style, the rules and their expectations when asked. Prepare your questions in advance after you do your research on martial arts styles.

You, Your Child: What Are Your Goals?
Seriously consider your children's goals? Does she just want to have fun? A tournament-oriented school may be the answer. Tournaments are fun since children win trophies or medals for point sparring or kata performance. Tournament schools put an emphasis on such competitions and generally channel their students into the safer ones. If you notice one- and two-foot trophies adorning walls and trophy cases, you've probably walked into a school that gears students for these competitions. Self-defense? See below.

And what are your goals for your child?

Self-defense? A competent martial arts instructor will be well aware of the zero tolerance policies in force in most public and private schools. He or she will teach "playground safe" tactics that allow the child to disengage and seek help from the adults in authority. Avoid like the plague any school that shows a small child stepping into a "fighting stance" against a mature adult. That's hype and so far from reality as to be laughable. Pay particular attention to curricula that emphasize awareness and avoidance. A kid will never, pound for pound, be able to fight off an adult. To believe so or allow a child to believe so is ridiculous. Children don't need to be taught how to "fight" (except for points and the joys of tourneys); they need to be taught to be aware of the surroundings, how to avoid or escape and where to go for help. Self-defense is vastly different than fighting, and both are very different than martial arts.

Discipline? That will happen in the course of any martial arts training. No good instructor can afford to have 20 kids kicking and punching at the same time in one room without the necessary discipline to keep children from being hurt. Discipline will range from the more laid back, American methods of "it's there, but not taken to an extreme" with questions and comments encouraged and welcomed; to the Asian traditional styles where discipline and ceremony are hard and fast, the master is the god of the dojo (training hall) and there is minimal interaction of students questioning the master's methods. The study of martial arts must be disciplined in order to keep participants from hurting each other or themselves. The degree of pomp and ceremony will vary among schools.(1)

Self-control? Yes. Again, it's vital to the safety of all students in the dojo. Watch the high belts (blue and above, generally) and how they interact with others. The proof of the pudding lies within the discipline, self-control and courtesy long-time students exhibit toward their instructors, peers and new students. Look into the corners and see how students behave off the matt. If a school claims to teach something it should be consistent throughout and from top to bottom.

Focus? Again, good martial arts teachers will generally recognize and help young students learn to sharpen their focus. In the 20-plus years we've taught traditional martial arts, there has never been a class session without one or more students diagnosed as ADD and ADHD. There are particular tricks of the trade we use to engage and keep the interest of these students. And parents have attested, time and again, that the martial arts classes have improved the attention span and focus of those students. Most experts on ADD/ADHD encourage martial arts training for kids with the condition. Simply stated martial arts require the physical and mental multi-tasking that ADDers are not only capable of, but are arguably designed for(2).

Memorization? Check and see if the school teaches traditional kata (martial arts forms of movements that must be made in a specific order; a choreographed one-person display of the martial arts techniques being taught and put into a fluid display). Kata is wonderful for memorization, as well as aerobic exercise, balance and coordination -- just as any sport is valuable. In this, however, a student only competes against himself. Martial arts is an individual endeavor, which many students prefer over the teamwork emphasized in other organized sports. She will succeed or fail on her own merits and hard work.

Self-discipline? Yes. In most reputable schools students will not advance (move up in belt colors) without the discipline of practice and more practice. This is where the hard work comes in, plus the fact that outside the dojo students must practice religiously on their own to gain any advancement. When we've had children enrolled by parents specifically because those parents want the discipline of a martial arts school, we usually encourage them to keep the kids enrolled until green belt. This way kids know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, no need to slug it out for years to the coveted black belt rank. By green belt, they've been required to focus, memorize, show courtesy and respect to fellow students and teachers, and work hard to attain the belt. The self-discipline comes with each belt rank they achieve.

Other aspects of martial arts that will be emphasized in a good school are courtesy, integrity, perseverance and indomitable spirit, to name a few.

And it all boils down to some hard work on the part of the student, as well as the instructor. Martial arts is not for everyone. And many will not want to offer the commitment required to do them well. Others will take to martial arts training like fish to water; it simply suits them and their needs. Return to top of page

To Sign or Not to Sign?
So after considering goals, doing the research and visiting area schools, you finally settle on the one that seems to best fulfill your needs and goals. The next question: To sign or not to sign?

Many commercial martial arts schools require parents to sign a contract for a specific length of time their child will be enrolled to ensure payment each month. In a business, this is the only way to guarantee a constant flow of income into the school. But contracts are a double-edged sword. They ensure the income to keep the doors open. If too much emphasis is put on contracts and students renewing contracts, however, there can be a decrease in quality as standards are relaxed to keep parents signing those contracts.

So just because you'd be paying a lot of money doesn't mean your child would be getting good training. In many commercial schools contracts have come hand-in-hand with regular testing, accelerated rank advancement and lowering of standards. Martial arts have traditionally been a life-long path. One of personal development and refinement. Those are the goals we discussed in the previous section and they are life skills. But in contract driven schools, achieving rank has eclipsed those goals. But rank isn't what you think it is. To begin with, the ranking system was only developed in the last century, and only because of mass instruction(3). But it has been interpreted as the goal by achievement oriented Westerners. For many a black belt has become a cloth trophy rather than an indicator of skill and understanding. This is where the double edged sword of contracts comes in. When you sell a contract, people expect results. Figuring that they are paying fees, parents often pressure MA schools to regularly test and advance their children. In turn, schools lower the standards so the child will be automatically advanced every 1 to 6 months -- regardless of the child's actual skill, performance level or amount of practice. Therefore many schools have become what are known as "belt factories." (Also known as MacKarate, MacDojos  and stripmall dojos) These large -- and often franchised -- schools are in the business of selling black belts. There are schools that will guarantee your child a black belt inside two years. That's right "guarantee." Ranking from these schools are like a fake Rolex watch, they look like something that impresses people who don't know any better. They are not however, indicators of ability or understanding.