Which Martial Arts for 4 1/2-Year-old Boy?

You need to go to each place. Watch how the instructors interact with the kids- patient, light hearted vs drill sargents. You also want a very good instructor to student ratio. At this young age, they can't handle more than 4-5 kids at a time. My kids started traditional Japanese martial arts at age 4 and 6. They have their sensei and at least 2 (sometimes 4) additional instructors for a class of 12. I also chose a dojo that's not competitive - they don't spar for trophies. They've been going about 3 yrs now, it's been really good for them both (boy and girl)

Just watch out for the "belt factories" that push you to sign contracts, etc.

Get recommendations from your neighbors, etc on which schools are best.

My daughter started as a fluke when she was 6-7 and she loved it. She is 16 now, has her black belt and we see the difference in how she handles herself, etc. It helps with seld confidence, discipline, perserverance, and self defence.

My daughter studied Tang Soo Do (Korean). She did not participate in the tournaments, etc. We chose a school that focused on the real martial arts, not gaming with it.

Visit several places, even if you feel place #1 is the right choice.

I took my 5 year old niece to a Karate party at a studio and it was great! I do not have any experience with other martial arts, but the karate class I saw was great! The class focused not only on karate moves, but also having fun physically (obstacle courses etc) and self defense in real life type situations (what to do if someone tries to grab you etc.) The icing on the cake was that theme of respect. Not only were the children slyly taught about respecting themselves, they also were taught about respecting their peers and their elders. It was a very positive experience.

I would ask if any of the locations allow you to sit through a session, or have a trial session with your son. Have fun!

I had the same feelings toward karate and my 4 year old. I enrolled him in a karate class thru our parks dept. It was much cheaper than going to a school and instructors from a school in Lansing, Il actually came to our town and taught the class. It's a good starter class if you aren't positive about a future with the sport. Good luck.

My kids are both brown belts in taekwondo. I started them in a rec center class to see if it appealed, but when it did, switched them to a school where they would get consistent, quality instruction. (of course, at the school you will sign a contract, but it is so worth it!) The rec center class just advanced them their belts if they finished a 6-wk class!

We love the sport! Agree with another post to make sure that the sparring they will do is in line with your thinking (ie, our school spars for points, not pain). Our son started at 5-talk to the school about what they do for the little kids. On thing that made the decision for me is that the teens and young adults we met at the TKD school were the kind of kids we wanted ours to become. We are still impressed by the teens and 20 year olds who give up their weekends to do movie night or water fights with the kids. We are 5 years in and going strong!

My son is in karate at Dybas Martial Arts. It's in Joliet near the Jefferson Walmart. He didn't join it until this year. They have a class before his called Lil' Dragons. This class is for kids as young as 4. They learn self defense, self disipline, and much more. The kids earn stickers for things that they have done well. For instance, a great kid,being respectful, being considerate, and so on. They don't advance belts super quickly and they aren't the regular solid colored belts. The teacher is awesome! He has several kids of his own and works really good with the kids. The kids get rewarded every day by getting a sucker after class. He also picks a student of the day. They have a playroom for you to sit in if you have other small children. There is no contract to sign and they are extremely reasonably priced. I would recommend checking them out. If you do, tell him R. sent you. Good luck.

We have our kids in Tai Kwon Do. It is 2X a week. Good stuff. I have no experience myself but my DH checked it out before signing them up. Structure and organized. so far so good.

I just earned my black belt in Karate last month. My daughter has also been training since she was five and is a Red belt now. We go through National Karate, which has some locations in IL. I also trained at a different Tae Kwon Do school for about five years and also taught children's classes for two years.

Pick several schools in your area and check out their websites to see if they show their schedule of classes and to get a feel for what they offer. Then visit the schools while there is a childrens' class in session. You should feel that the instructor is in charge, yet can allow some fun during the class. There is no ideal student/teacher ratio. I've seen teachers hold total control over a fairly large group of children. That's what you want to see. You need to talk with the head of the school to get details of pricing and expectations.

Different martial arts use different techniques - karate and TaeKwonDo use mostly kicking and punching techniqes, other styles use more grappling on the ground types of techniques. Some, like Aikido, teach how to use your opponents momentum against them. Some stress self-defense more than others.

There is nothing totally good or bad about including sparring and/or tournaments in the program. Sparring is the one part of martial arts that is non-choreographed, spontaneous, and teaches how to really use the techniques you are taught. Sparring has been one of the biggest learning opportunities for me. That's what truly taught me self-confidence. You want to be sure that the approach to sparring, for children especially, is a "game of tag" or "point sparring". The idea is to learn and practice control and techniques, NOT to hurt your opponent.

Any decent school should emphasize to kids that they are NOT to use the skills they are learning for anything other than during class and in an emergency situation - to defend themselves. The schools I've been a part of will kick a student out of class if they find out they've "done karate" on a classmate or sibling.