as a college faculty instructor, I have had to "dummy down" the class/tests/etc. it is, how it is...

bwaah!!!
if i had a euro for every time i made a scottsman cry i would have my own brothel!!!

Look it's hard to tell you are not female in that outfit and wig and we hate parting with money at the best of times anyway.

Hey, Oprah knows about kids with blackbelts suck month!

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2008/09/10/oprah-brings-us-the-most-frighteningly-intense-child-in-america/

I love this thread!
As a NAVY Corpsman, SOOOO many times I encountered some teenage SH either in the NAVY or in the MARINE CORPS who would brag about his Black Belt and all the KARAT'E fighting knowledge he knew. I'll never forget the day some sailor got so fed up with all the BS coming out of this kids mouth and I mean "Kids" mouth. He got the worst ass kick'n I'd ever seen. This kid pulled his punches, pulled his kickes. It was a fight, not a point sparring contest that he was taught at the local Mc Dojo when he was a kid. Once that Squid got a hold and swept him to the ground it was all ass whoop'n from there on.
Parent's are NOT doing their kids a favor by having them learn useless techniques from the local Mc Dojo especially after a whole year (minus holidays) of grind for 30 minutes, once day a week, punch'n and kick'n the inflatable batman bag for the coveted "BLACK BELT".
We have a few Mc DoJo’s in my town that produces a boat load of useless kid Black Belts. A handful have come over to our DoJo, but they always quit after a few weeks because believe it or not we actually train, sweat, punch, kick and pound on each other.
I love it when I see the guys from the local McDojo in their multicolored clown GI, with their black belt all stripped up handing out flyers at carnivals or town events asking people “How do you feel about martial arts?”, “Has your son or daughter ever been in a martial arts program?”, “Does your child need to learn discipline or how to defend themselves?”. “We have a program that will get your child from a White Belt to a Black Belt in only one year”.
How about the Adults at the McDojo having to call the kid Black Belt instructors “SIR”, what a bunch of crap!
I hate kid Black Belts, but I hate the McDojo’s even more for producing them.

So what do I look for if I want to get my kids started actually learning Martial Arts?

I have no MA experience and (thanks to this site) am going to skip the local "Villari" franchise. ( at least give me credit for not even considering Tiger Shullman)

If I'm going to shell out the money and they are goign to invest the time, I want them to learn something useful that they'll be able to cary with them thru the rest of their lives.

I'm in Smithtown on Long Island. My kids are young but want to start "Karate".

What do you guys recomend?

Please include any specific dojos.

Thanks

So what do I look for if I want to get my kids started actually learning Martial Arts?

I have no MA experience and (thanks to this site) am going to skip the local "Villari" franchise. ( at least give me credit for not even considering Tiger Shullman)

If I'm going to shell out the money and they are goign to invest the time, I want them to learn something useful that they'll be able to cary with them thru the rest of their lives.

I'm in Smithtown on Long Island. My kids are young but want to start "Karate".

What do you guys recomend?

Please include any specific dojos.

Thanks

Don't know of any specifics as I'm over the pond but......

'Karate' is a general term that includes so much crap that it's best avoided without a good recommendation.

You don't mention how old they are but I'm guessing they are twins? (that's going to help big time)

If you want the training to be useful then finding a school that teaches to your kids age is going to come down to the usual arts with the added difficulty in the striking arts that many of the good gyms don't always take kids, particually young ones.

Judo is the first to spring to mind. BJJ (can be expensive) A good kickboxing class, muay thai or boxing. Boxing and judo would be cheap and extremely effective and as they are both competition based arts your children have something to work towards apart from 3 monthly gradings.

By the way.............

Your problem with children and martial arts will be when they are teenagers and get sick of the moralistic approach to many TMA's. Give them something that they will be happy to do at 15 not be laughing at at 13.

Fish Oil, get them on it and see them progress faster both pysically and mentally.

So what do I look for if I want to get my kids started actually learning Martial Arts?

I have no MA experience and (thanks to this site) am going to skip the local "Villari" franchise. ( at least give me credit for not even considering Tiger Shullman)

If I'm going to shell out the money and they are goign to invest the time, I want them to learn something useful that they'll be able to cary with them thru the rest of their lives.

I'm in Smithtown on Long Island. My kids are young but want to start "Karate".

What do you guys recomend?

Please include any specific dojos.

Thanks

There are quite a few members in Long Island. You should start a thread in Newbietown and ask them.

Title it "Help in Long Island MA Scene" or something like that.

If you don't remove this thread than my gang will be forced to take action!
http://www.charlesrawlinstaekwondo.org.au/December%202007%20Grading/Black%20Belt/P1010634.JPG


Dude I know that older guy in the back he has a son who is in that X.M.A thing right?

entry Jul 16 2008, 03:38 PM
On Thursday, July 10th. Me and my workout partner, Vanessa and one of our other instructor's Dan went to Smithtown Judo for our ESG Team practice. It was a great Non-Stop Workout keeping our bodies warm and always moving. It was like Aerobic Judo moving from drills into Randori.

Vanessa and I worked together initially with a bunch of combo techniques in back and forth Nage-Komi. Then we ran a little and went into ground drills and then standing drills. We broke up into groups and did a round robin Randori then we randori'ed the other students in class.. What a great workout. We had a great time.

I would like to take another visit to Smithtown before the Games.

We all then went to our own club Combat Judo to continue our randori workout. It was perfect timing and a perfect ending of a great Judo day.

I was just so exhausted after that experience, I gassed out around 11:00pm and had to go home. Other's stuck around our club and practiced, but my body just couldn't anymore. I can't wait to do it again.

and, if I was starting my kids in karate, "Marilyn Fierro, Chief Instructor
Smithtown Karate Academy
135 West Main Street
Smithtown,NY 11787
USA
(631) 265-9062

(next door to the Sizzler)

http://www.milleniummartialarts.com/childrens_karate_programs

have you checked them out?

good luck. Personally, despite all the boxing, KB, BJJ, etc. I would put my kids in a good traditional karate or TKD class, and/or Judo, to start them out.

I don't expect, nor do I want them, just to train to knock someone out, choke them out, or armbar the **** out of them.

Unless I live in a very bad neighborhood, and they are targets, then they start directly into BJJ and muay thai

I would put my kids in a good traditional karate or TKD class,

.....and then spend a couple of years breaking bad habits once you realise that your kids can't fight for **** despite being promised they are un-fuckin'-stoppable.

I've lost count of the amount of junior TKD kids that come onto the forums asking how to deal with a bully. Don't seem to get it in the muay thai forums.

........I'll agree with the judo though. Don't see much difference between that and a BBJ class in term of suitability for kids, perhaps you'd care to enlighten me?

I agree that kids with bb's sucks hardcore.But I also agree with a ranking system for achievement and hard work.I have 2 kids that after a year and a half in tkd onlyhave thier yellow belts because they did not apply themselves ie.not working hard refusing to spar,notdoingthier excercises hard enough.
I had noproblemwith this at all I always toldmy kids it was thier own fault if they did not get to test for thier next belt.Then on the other hand my middle child in the same year and a half earned her blue belt (5thkyu) right along with me.Do I worry about her not as much as my other kids she spars hard,she got in trouble for using illegal strikes in tourney sparring, but even when she is sparring hard she isn't mad and is a good sport.
But then parents have tolearn when everyone is special noone is.

.....and then spend a couple of years breaking bad habits once you realise that your kids can't fight for **** despite being promised they are un-fuckin'-stoppable.

I've lost count of the amount of junior TKD kids that come onto the forums asking how to deal with a bully. Don't seem to get it in the muay thai forums.

........I'll agree with the judo though. Don't see much difference between that and a BBJ class in term of suitability for kids, perhaps you'd care to enlighten me?
In terms of bullies I've seen my count of wrestler kids beating up bullies with ease. My school was neighbors with a sport schoool.

In terms of bullies I've seen my count of wrestler kids beating up bullies with ease. My school was neighbors with a sport schoool.

I can believe it. Same with kids who box, do judo, muay thai, kickboxing, BJJ etc: It's not the kids who suck it's the martial arts their parents tend to take them to, watered down versions of pretty crappy arts to begin with.

My experience,
When I was a kid I took JUDO for a short time and it was very hard. I retained a lot of what I learned well into adulthood. The martial arts school I and my son did attend is run very traditionally, but there are high expectations and it is not typical of most MA schools.
In my opinion (for what it’s worth) the main aspect of teaching your kid how to defend themselves or really how to fight (because defending yourself successfully is fighting) is for your kid to get over what I call the “breaking the distance” fear. Kids are afraid to hit one another (because they have always been taught not to) and as such are apprehensive to fighting and defending themselves. Anyone who has taught MA with kids has seen this and it can be very frustrating. JUDO, BJJ, Traditional Jujitsu, any MA school that teaches grappling, where real interaction is involved I highly recommend. Many McDojos teach bag hitting and kicking or that stupid points sparring or worse DOME fighting. None of these help get your child to learn how to “break the distance” or fear of touching/grabbing his or her opponent. I have always wrestled with my kid, he is very aggressive when he needs to be and because of this he has no problem confronting bullies in school, but that is a whole other thread.