"BEST" martial art for childern

[tombogan03884]

 I KNEW you didn't have BOTH oars in the water  

[MAUSERMAN]

What do you get when you send 50 sailors out to sea?
25 couples

[fightingquaker13]

What to you get when you send 50 sailors out to sea?
25 couples

Here I thought it was somebody to get the army into the fight.
FQ13

[texcaliber]

In regards to the topic, I have looked into Tae Kuan Do. The master seems to be very good at what he does and respect is the #1.(followed by control) Goes through the class which is always different and gives a life lesson. For the price(65/month 100/two childern 125/whole family) she can go 5 times a week. Good value in my opinion. Seems to me a lot of energy burning but i do not know if it is the "Best". 

[fightingquaker13]

In regards to the topic, I have looked into Tae Kuan Do. The master seems to be very good at what he does and respect is the #1.(followed by control) Goes through the class which is always different and gives a life lesson. For the price(65/month 100/two childern 125/whole family) she can go 5 times a week. Good value in my opinion. Seems to me a lot of energy burning but i do not know if it is the "Best". 

As I said earlier, you're trying to raise a self confident little girl, not a ninja. Forget the best style, pick the best teacher. It sounds like you're comfortable with this guy and the price is good. Tae Kwan Do is common and its an olympic sport, plenty of competions around if she's into that. If she likes it, she can trade up to something more hard core like Krav Maga or even a practical style of Judo or Aikido when she's older and bigger. For now, its about confidence, balance and self discipline. I say go for it.
FQ13

[Sponsor]

[Rob Pincus]

I have been working all day and I have a LOT going on... so, forgive me for what I am about to say:


I agree with TAB.
 


Seriously, I vote wrestling. Lots of body awareness, exercise & fitness are involved, individual performance and motivation. If she likes it, she can graduate to a Jujitsu or MMA school.


Unfortunately, the fact is that ( especially as she gets older) the most likely situations in which she'd have to fight would be at the hands of someone that she knew and trusted well enough to let get close.

-RJP
(PS- stay on topic)

[fightingquaker13]

I have been working all day and I have a LOT going on... so, forgive me for what I am about to say:


I agree with TAB.
 


Seriously, I vote wrestling. Lots of body awareness, exercise & fitness are involved, individual performance and motivation. If she likes it, she can graduate to a Jujitsu or MMA school.


Unfortunately, the fact is that ( especially as she gets older) the most likely situations in which she'd have to fight would be at the hands of someone that she knew and trusted well enough to let get close.

-RJP
(PS- stay on topic)

Rob
I'm not sure I agree with you here. At seven, its about confidence, courage and general fitness (screaming loudly and running from the guy with the bag of candy or missing puppy is your job to teach her). When she gets older, stronger and heavier,and faces the threat of teenage boys (who have a hard time differentiating between no and maybe)  maybe something hard and dirty like Krav Mega would be the way to go. I would still hesitate to reccomend a grappling style like wresteling or juijitsu or capoiera to a girl. She will always be smaller and weaker. Letting someone heavier get you on the ground seems like a bad idea. It seems to me that being able to do serious  damage and retreat rapidly makes more sense, but I am no one's expert.

[Rob Pincus]

She will always be smaller and weaker. Letting someone heavier get you on the ground seems like a bad idea. It seems to me that being able to do serious  damage and retreat rapidly makes more sense, but I am no one's expert.

I've got a daughter... and the problem is that she will be letting someone heavier and stronger get close to her and it is THEN that the "yes, no, maybe" problem might become a real issue.  I can pretend that she will be at striking distance, but that would be denying the overwhelming majority of the evidence about how sexual assaults (and physical assaults against women in general) start (not the ones that are sensationalized on the news... the much more common ones that start with isolation and betrayed trust).

This is a big issue when I teach Women's Assault Prevention. Everyone shows up wanting to kick in the groin and palm strike the nose... that's fine if you're worried about ski-masked guys on the jogging trail, but it doesn't work so well against the co-worker leaning over you at the office on a late night, the study partner next to you on the couch or the boyfriend in the back seat who doesn't get the "stop".  The Ski-Mask guys are less than 1% of reported sexual assaults.

Extreme Close quarters skills are what women and kids need.

 A thumb into your eye socket while grabbing the back of your ear and grasping until your skull is being held between the thumb and index finger is just as practical for a 7 year old kid as it is for a 70 year old woman or for me or you. Knowing how to escape from being pinned to the ground so that you can get to that technique, a choke or a lamp to break over someone's head makes sense. Teaching a 50 pound kid to kick or punch is like teaching a horse to count... even if it works, they can't do much with it.

-RJP

edited to add:

I also recommend wrestling for boys in that age range for the physical reasons and most of the psychological ones.

I think that at striking distances Verbal Skills, Awareness, Avoidance and De-Escalation are much better tools to give kids than strikes. A

[fightingquaker13]

Rob
I shall defer to your experience and knowledge. Hell, you do this for a living. My main concern for a young girl, or me for that matter, is being able to disable or disorient the attacker, disengage, and get the heck out of Dodge. Anything beyond that should be left to the cops. Or, in your or my case, being able to bring a gun into play, but I still prefer the the not being there option when it comes to a gun fight. I would rather deploy a pair of sneakers and a cell phone than a Glock.
FQ13

[Rob Pincus]

I agree with 100%... But "want" and "need" are different things. It has everything to do with what serious attacks are most likely for the kids and girls... it is not one that occurs at striking distances.

But, while we are on the topic, if someone wants something more "martial artsy", seek out a Personal Defense Readiness course (google it). It is the only course of its kind that I can recommend.

-RJP