My first student

Omar B

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So my eldest step brother's son Justin was at the house yesterday for my mother's birthday party and while all us guys were watching football, he was in the middle of the living room jumping around, throwing kicks, punches and pretty much being an energetic five year old (after I had given him Snickers and a Pepsi).

My mother commented on how energetic he was and said "When your uncle was your age he was already in karate." To which Justin responded in a voice both shocked and awed "Uncle knows karate!" As if my mother could have as easily said "magic" instead. He came over to me, clasped his hands in front of his chest and bowed as if repeating something he's seen on TV which illicited a laugh from me, but now he wants to start me teaching him as soon as possible.

The thing is, I'm all too glad to teach him, but what do I teach him? Do I strictly teach him Kyokushin, Seido, Choi Kwang Do, some weird melange of the three? My goal was never to be any sort of teacher but now it seems I have a student.

Any tips?
 

MJS

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I'd teach him whatever art you think he'd benefit from the most. Being that he's young, I'd keep things simple. In other words, start out with the basics, and dont get too hung up on complicated things. Many times, when I'd teach kids, I'd try to incorporate the basics into a game. One thing that I learned real quick with kids, is that you have to keep their attention. The moment you lose it, it's hard to get it back.
 

searcher

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Start him with the basics and see what he excels at, then form his training accordingly.
 
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Omar B

Omar B

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Justin's a very smart kid for 5 years old so I don't think I have to make things a game. He's read many of the literary classics (Dracula, Frankenstein, Emma, Sherlock Holmes, etc). He's still a kid but mentally he's pretty advanced.
 
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Gary Crawford

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teach him basic self defense techniques and simple punching and kicking and see if he practices on his own or not, if he actually does his homework,then start him on a system.
 
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Omar B

Omar B

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Sounds like a plan. There's nothing he "needs" to learn, he's not put in any situations he's going to have to defend himself. He's much like myself at that age, mesmerized by the idea of karate. I just don't want to approach it like my first Sensei did. He came from Tadashi Nakamura's camp back before the split from Oyama so even as a child our training was pretty rough and I really don't want to rough up my nephew.
 

jks9199

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Justin's a very smart kid for 5 years old so I don't think I have to make things a game. He's read many of the literary classics (Dracula, Frankenstein, Emma, Sherlock Holmes, etc). He's still a kid but mentally he's pretty advanced.
He's still five. He may have read them -- but he doesn't have the mental ability and concentration of an older kid, let alone an adult. Teaching kids is entirely different than teaching adults. You'll have maybe ten to fifteen minutes at best of focus before you have to move to something else.

In all honesty, I don't teach kids that young. If I choose to send my kid to martial arts when he's five -- it'll be to a carefully selected school that runs kid's programs. They're used to teaching 'em, they have a structure in place to deal with it and an appropriate curriculum.

For your nephew, right now, I'd suggest some basic game play that reflects training to assess his interest and seriousness, then offer to help your stepbrother find a good school for him if he's maintaining the interest. For now, keep it to some basic punching, kicking & blocking... stuff that won't throw him way off with something else down the road. He'll have a ball spending some time with his uncle and pounding on some bags, maybe doing a simple kata or two.
 
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Omar B

Omar B

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Cool man. Thing is when people say he's too young at 5, that was when I started so I don't see it as too young. But you are correct, I'll teach him basic tech. for now, maybe start him on Seido Kata 1 which is your basic "I" shaped kata with zen kutzodachi, gedan bari, punching and turning.

*Please excuse the bad spelling for the Japanese.
 

Jenny_in_Chico

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And if he's going to school, he will definitely be exposed to situations where SD techniques will come in handy.
 

Drac

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I'd teach him whatever art you think he'd benefit from the most. Being that he's young, I'd keep things simple. In other words, start out with the basics, and dont get too hung up on complicated things. Many times, when I'd teach kids, I'd try to incorporate the basics into a game. One thing that I learned real quick with kids, is that you have to keep their attention. The moment you lose it, it's hard to get it back.

Start him with the basics and see what he excels at, then form his training accordingly.

Sounds like good advice...Keep us posted...
 

Brian King

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Rolling and falling and drills that help him develop balance would seem to be useful at any age.

A word of caution when teaching young people. We can see them, their great potential and what kind of adults that they will grow into. Even so or maybe because of this we must always also see that they are still children. Their bodies spirit and psyche have not yet developed even though we can see what will be. Great harm and damage can be done if while seeing their potential we do not also at all times see where they are truly currently at in their development. See them as children, not as small people, little adults or project our own memories or expectations of that age onto them.

In my opinion it is an honor to be teacher but the responsibility of teaching should also be felt understood and constantly in mind especially when teaching martial skills no matter the number or the age of students.

Warmest regards
Brian King
 

Jade Tigress

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Everyone has already offered great advice that I can't add to, but I would like to say the story is priceless. :)
 

MJS

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Justin's a very smart kid for 5 years old so I don't think I have to make things a game. He's read many of the literary classics (Dracula, Frankenstein, Emma, Sherlock Holmes, etc). He's still a kid but mentally he's pretty advanced.

You know him better than I. However, seeing that I've been teaching for a pretty long time, I've had the chance to see more than my share of adults and kids, and the majority of kids that I've seen, have very short attention spans.

If the person you'll be teaching, doesnt fit into that category, thats fine, but I was simply saying that if he was the typical kid, then yes, you'd need to make things fun, otherwise, you'll run a high risk of losing their attention.
 

morph4me

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The best kid's classes I ever taught were when I stopped teaching a martial art and played with them, teaching martial arts skills. While I'm sure there are exceptions, most kids that young aren't ready to learn martial arts taught in a traditional way
 

Daniel Sullivan

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Talk about golden opportunities!

In my opinion, a child's curriculum should consist primarily of movement, strikes, blocks, rolls and falls. Joint locks and manipulation or anything of that nature should be held off until a child is older (my opinion). You ask whether you should teach him "Kyokushin, Seido, Choi Kwang Do, some weird melange of the three." Kyokushin sounds like the best bet. I am not familiar enough with the others to render an opinion.

Kyokushin is karate, will give him a good striking and movement base in a hard style, and the basics are something that a five year old can grasp and reproduce.

Best wishes to you!

Daniel
 

The Last Legionary

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Hmm. Genius child prodigy. Skip right to 5th dan material. Child will absorb basics naturally. Give live weapons. Genius should instinctively know how not to injure themselves.

OR

You can teach solid basics, and put a solid foundation in place, while doing your best to keep a kids limited attention span focused through stimulating and fun learning. Disney's spend millions on figuring this out. Here's a free one on Uncle Walt.
 
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Omar B

Omar B

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All good suggestions. I think I'm gonna go with a pretty basic Kyokushin syllabus. I don't wanna teach him anything that will be vastly different than what he would learn in a regular dojo so if he does eventually join one he won't be kicking all weird.

My ego wants me to teach him what I do which is really a mix of 3 styles, but then I'm no fan of making up new styles just because I can mash them together. Fine for me, not for someone trying to learn.

Also, I looked up a pretty good article on teaching kids about Larry Tatum.
 

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