Disciplining Kids

[foggymorning162]

I'm curious what a three-year old can get out of Tang Soo Do. I wouldn't know since I'm not an instructor.

I teach 3 and 4 yr olds we do not teach them "TSD" like we learn or even like the juniors learn although we do start to introduce them to forms and they learn basic kicks, blocks and punches our goal with this age group is to teach focus, respect, discipline, following basic directions and self control. It also gives them a basic background with terminology and etiquitte for their continued training.

 

[Tez3]

I teach 3 and 4 yr olds we do not teach them "TSD" like we learn or even like the juniors learn although we do start to introduce them to forms and they learn basic kicks, blocks and punches our goal with this age group is to teach focus, respect, discipline, following basic directions and self control. It also gives them a basic background with terminology and etiquitte for their continued training.

We take them at four, there's no insurance here for any younger than that and we do exactly as you do. It seems to work very well, they go on to the junior class ready to work hard and with confidence.

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

I wondered about having them do something that would just tire the devil out of them. Master R was teaching the other day and I saw that he had the red belt kids doing squat thrusts AFTER class. I don't know if that was punishment or endurance training for red belts.

I can't imagine Master R letting the kids get away with anything. I remember not too long go when he lectured them and he was not happy.

The day the kids were acting up with my daughter, Master R was not there.

I agree that there is no room for kids who misbehave. Some parents bring their kids to class because they are discipline problems at home. I would imagine that MA turns most of them around. Well, it will be interesting to see how it goes. I think I'm terrified of having to swat.

I know I struggle with that too a little bit. I'm 3rd degree brown in shotokan and I'm a Jr instructor. I teach the kids classes. The disapline isn't always clear. If I yell at them or make them do push-ups sensei says I'm being to hard on them they are just kids. But then if I ease up they get wild and sensei gets upset with that too. parents also complain about how we disapline. It's like hello parents this is karate not romper room . We teach disapline. I do make them do push ups after a verbal warning. What I do now is I run the kids around the dojo to tire them out a little bit. Then do warm ups. I try to teach in a fun way. And at the end of class in ceza position we talk. I ask them what is respect and other questions. I finally got through to them. Last night I told them to take off their sparring gear and grab a water break. I turned to do something At
sensei's desk. Turned around again and my students were lined up in correct ranking order , quietly, and in yame (ready ) stance. I was Soooo shocked I actually wanted to cry. All of that hard work and disapline payed off that night

 

[Tortoise]

I know I struggle with that too a little bit. I'm 3rd degree brown in shotokan and I'm a Jr instructor. I teach the kids classes. The disapline isn't always clear. If I yell at them or make them do push-ups sensei says I'm being to hard on them they are just kids. But then if I ease up they get wild and sensei gets upset with that too. parents also complain about how we disapline. It's like hello parents this is karate not romper room . We teach disapline. I do make them do push ups after a verbal warning. What I do now is I run the kids around the dojo to tire them out a little bit. Then do warm ups. I try to teach in a fun way. And at the end of class in ceza position we talk. I ask them what is respect and other questions. I finally got through to them. Last night I told them to take off their sparring gear and grab a water break. I turned to do something At
sensei's desk. Turned around again and my students were lined up in correct ranking order , quietly, and in yame (ready ) stance. I was Soooo shocked I actually wanted to cry. All of that hard work and disapline payed off that night

The best thing you can do is to keep them busy. Kids do not have the patience to sit and watch other kids run through their material. If you must watch one kid, give the others some activity to do like an obstacle course or punching/kicking a bag. Do not leave them too long doing the same thing or they become bored and start doing something else. Push ups are OK as long as you don't have them spend half the class doing them or something. Parents do not want to pay for their kids to do push ups. If this happens too often they will leave. If the studio has more than enough students, not a problem. Otherwise, you need to find a solution other than having them do something other than martial arts during their class time.

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

The best thing you can do is to keep them busy. Kids do not have the patience to sit and watch other kids run through their material. If you must watch one kid, give the others some activity to do like an obstacle course or punching/kicking a bag. Do not leave them too long doing the same thing or they become bored and start doing something else. Push ups are OK as long as you don't have them spend half the class doing them or something. Parents do not want to pay for their kids to do push ups. If this happens too often they will leave. If the studio has more than enough students, not a problem. Otherwise, you need to find a solution other than having them do something other than martial arts during their class time.

hi yes i totally get what you are saying. When i do the fun stuff they are still learning martial arts i would never do something that didnt include that.i do have some parents tell me if their kids arent listening to not be afraid to put them down for pushups. Alot of stuff that i do teach when i go to teach it again they go yesssss!!!!! The disapline is what i struggle with. I realize alot of schools are different with that and i respect that. I trained in tkd for 6 years. The disapline was always there that everyone fell in line it was rare we had issues. When i went into shotokan at the dojo i started at there was disapline there too. We closed last year. Just not enough students. my senseis mom owned the school im at now so we went there. when i started there there was very little disapline. So thats why i struggle with it. im used to a more structured school. i just want to be a better teacher and martial artest. I do feel my efforts are paying off. i did a glo class a couple times and the kids loved it. We did it with kata and glo bracelets. One of the students did bo kata with 2 glo sticks on the ends it was awesome

 

[Andrew Green]

What age ranges are you teaching?

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

6-12 year olds.

 

[Andrew Green]

6-12 year olds.

All in one class at the same time?

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

Yes thats why its so hard to do anything sometimes. When i do warm up ive been told not to make it too hard for the little ones but i feel like the older ones arent being challenged enough. We have a couple of older oned who misbehave and then it influences the little ones. This is why i have a tough time teaching sometimes

 

[Andrew Green]

Yes thats why its so hard to do anything sometimes. When i do warm up ive been told not to make it too hard for the little ones but i feel like the older ones arent being challenged enough. We have a couple of older oned who misbehave and then it influences the little ones. This is why i have a tough time teaching sometimes

Any possibility of splitting it into two? Either running both groups at the same time with different instructors or at different times? That's just too big of a difference in age to train everyone the same IMO.

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

I wish we could. it would make it so much easier. Sometimes it works out where if some dont come to 1st class i have the same age group. But its hard when we have a night with maybe 2 6 year olds and 7 12 year olds. Because then i cant teach the 6 year olds certian things because they might get hurt. I dont feel like its fair for anyone and our dojo is big but not big enough to seperate the classes. i just kind of roll with it. Ive gotten to the point of making up 4 differnt plans of what to teach. If we get a mix of the 6-12 yearolds i have one plan if i get more little ones. Then one plan if we have 5 students one night and one if everyone is there which is 13 on average. The other problem is sensei wants to have the higher ranked teenagers help out in first class.there have been a bunch of problems with that. Because it great to have help but sometimes it winds up being 8 teenagers all trying to help and as im teaching and some find that they can start taking over my class. And ive had to say something about it. One in particular doesnt care no matter how much we have told him he still butts in. Then there are other times when no one wants to help they just sit on the bench and are lazy. Some are up for black belt. I have told them of they are helping to raise their hand if they have a comment or come to me and ask if they can help me plan a game at the end of class. So im struggling big time

 

[Andrew Green]

My experience has been if you don't have a class for a age, you're going to have a hard time keeping that age. With a 6-12 year age gap it's too big, and your retention is going to suffer and it will be harder to sign kids up. How old are the teenagers in question? Are any of them at the point where they could take over the 6-8 year olds with some proper class management training?

As for having a group, get them to either commit or get out of the way. And pick the ones that you want there, having that many teenagers on the floor to that small of a group is going to cause more problems then it solves. Pick one or two of the best and lose the rest.

I'm assuming you are not the owner of the school? Where is the owner, can they get on the floor and run the older half? If not do you have the ability to make decisions on splitting the class or getting more help? I can't see a class with that big of age gap growing, you can't accommodate them all and end up likely accommodating none of them. Then they get bored or frustrated and you lose control, then they drop out.

 

[Andrew Green]

Just as a reference, my school runs kids in 3 & 4 year olds, 5-7 year olds, 8-10 year olds and 11-14 year olds. The group you got covers kids from 3 of my age groups into one class

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

No im not im a 3rd degree brown belt. i totally get what you are saying though. sensei wants everyone together. So there isnt much i can do. the teenagers are 13-15. but the other thing is too the teenagers come in to help and when they dont and just sit and do nothing are still getting credit for "doing"a class they havent done. Yes too many helpers on the floor gets too confusing to the students because they dont know who to listen to. Im frusterated because i really want to be a good teacher and have my own dojo someday. But the lack of orginization and struture and dicipline is making it very difficult to teach. Especially when sensei is there and trying to follow her expectations too.

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

Just as a reference, my school runs kids in 3 & 4 year olds, 5-7 year olds, 8-10 year olds and 11-14 year olds. The group you got covers kids from 3 of my age groups into one class [/QUOTE

 

[Andrew Green]

sensei wants everyone together.

Do you know what her goals for the school are? Is she doing / trying to do it full time? Just a hobby? Does she want to grow it bigger or is she happy with it's current size?

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

I definately hear that. The school i went to before was like that it was split by age group. When the school closed we went to my senseis parents school. And she does it that way 1st class is beginner and 2nd class is high ranked belts

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

Sorry i didnt get to finish that. we only have class 2 nights a week if we were open 4 nights we probably could probably split the class up. i told her i would come in early to teach both classes and she said the ladt time she tried that. not enough came to have 2 sperate classes. Since ive been there we have lost 5 people. Alot of the student are kids there are maybe 6 adults out of the whole school that come.

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

Do you know what her goals for the school are? Is she doing / trying to do it full time? Just a hobby? Does she want to grow it bigger or is she happy with it's current size?

 

[shoto_tiger_girl]

Its defenately her business but sensei id in her mid 60s too. So i almost think she likes the size it is. The school in total has 20 students enrolled. so we are small. The other issue is there are only 2 shotokan schools left in the area i live. Im very passionate about martial arts and take it seriously. It disapoints me that alot of the teenagers dont and all they care about is getting a black belt.some are very disrespectful and shes held them back because she doesnt feel they are ready and there are a few upset parents asking why their kid doest have a black belt yet. Its not about the belt its about learning respect and disapline.