Kids

[WadoAJ]

Hi Claas,

I think one of the main differences is the freedom that should be allowed in kids classes as most of them are not ready to take that responsibility. Athough some adults have difficulty with proper focus at times this is on a different scale. The overview a teacher should posess in a kids class is way more demanding than teaching an adult class. If this is not the case you have either very disciplined kids or very funny adults.. Of course, some things are just impossible for children to do or understand. At some point there are not conscious enough. I guess they are simply immature.

Nevertheless, we don't raise our children with games. We raise them with karate.

AJ

[kyudo]

Nevertheless, we don't raise our children with games. We raise them with karate.

To be honest, I don't think karate is suited for kids. I inherited a kids class when I took over the dojo. I never intended to have kids in my dojo. But now that I have, I enjoy it a lot. However, the karate that I do with the kids is more about playing and has little to do with combat. I see it as an introduction to karate, not actual karate. So I don't have the same standards for the kids as I have for the adults. The main advantage of the kids class appears to be that by the time they're 12 or so, they move to the adults class and are ready to do some 'real' karate. In fact it's my main source of new students. It's very hard to get adults in the door. It's easier to get kids and then hold on to them till they get older.
In my experience, there are a few important things that distinguishes the kids class from the adults:
• Kids can be quite cruel. Not intentionally, but unwittingly.
• Kids have a shorter attention span.
• Kids have yet to learn how to train and how to overcome their own limitation.
• Kids want to play.
And last but not least:
• Kids are cute. :-)

[claas]

Hi AJ,

I wrote that the only difference is in the guidance. But guidance is always relative to the one giving it and the one receiving it anyway, so no generalisations are needed. Children have the tendency to be more sensitive for fear or pain for example. This is a good thing to keep one's eyes open for, but if it's not there it's not there, so like I said no generalisations are needed.

What I want to say with all this is still the same thing that the stuff taught should be Wado, in a way that the learner will learn most effectively. Talking about kids and adults is a bit missleading since the difference is as big when talking about someone in their 30's and someone in their 60's. Both of these are many times classed as something called adults.

I agree with you very much, so all this is just further thinking.
About responsibility I think regardless of age the teacher should always give a proper amount of responsibility.



Hi kyudo,

While I agree that karate is not suited for many kids, I have got to say it's not suited for many people anyway. (Actually I think in a younger age, the proportion of the ones that it is suited for is actually a lot bigger than for older people whose minds have already grown up in their directions.) For some reason many times when we are talking about kids we want to have a more "selling" karate than when talking about adults, in which case we want it to be as authentic as possible. I think this is wrong and the Wado should always be as authentic as possible. But like I said, there is always a difference in the guidance. Wado is very good for some kids. Many have improved their grades at school because of it or other budo. It might not work for everyone but it should be what's in the nametag and not the stuff that is expected to work for most. Otherwise a promise of what is "delivered" is broken.

When we train budo we approach violence so that we can learn about it and become better human beings. Adults might start understanding something about it in some age, but kids generally do not understand it, so there is good to be a difference in how we approach kicking and punching. It is not the idea to frighten kids, but then again it is not the idea to frighten adults either, to a point that makes them more fearful and violent.

So we use Wado for improving ourselves. In the process of raising up people, different lessons are to be learned at different times, but this does not mean that the method of raising up would be different. It just means that the method is very comprehensive.



A good starting tool for trying to understand budo is always Budo Kensho. Here is a link to a translation of Kodomo Budo Kensho. I think it is very essential for the topic. There you can also find a link to Budo Kensho, which has pretty much the same stuff in it but is more comprehensive.
http://www.nipponbudokan.or.jp/shinkouj ... o_eng.html