# How young do you start children and what do do teach them?



## foggymorning162 (Sep 5, 2008)

We have a "Little Ninjas" class it is 3 and 4 yr olds. At this age it is not easy to teach true TSD obviously but the class is ment more to develope respect, attention span, listening skills, following directions focus, etc. I have been teaching this class for 3 yrs now and it is difficult to keep things fresh sometimes, as it is not like a regular class where you do the same drills regularly becaus ewe learn things by being repedative, the class is only 1/2 hr but you need to keep it moving to not lose them, once one goes they all go!!! We do try to start them on forms so they get comfortable with them. I emphasize *TRY* we only teach them the first 8 moves of ki cho hyung Il bu and ki cho hyung E bu, they don't really learn them too well but we do them more to teach focus than to actually learn the form. I find they pick up the terminology very well though, I wish I had learned it so young. 

Anyway to get to my point what I wanted to know is do you teach that young and do you have any drills that you think work well with them.

For example I like to focus on a single topic for a month straight so most if not all of the drills in that month will enforce that idea. Last month was self control I was looking for something to challange them physically and mentally. Some of our instructors talk about throwing punches at brick walls in the old days to learn control but I can't really do that with 3 + 4's so I was thinking about that when I had a brain storm. That week I ran around like crazy trying to find enough woopie cushions for myself and my assistants. The drill went well though, the idea is to throw a punch( I would like to try kicks next time) full speed( that is a so so concept for them) and make contact but pull it before it makes noise. Of course at the end of the drill they all get to punch it harder to make fart noises you need some kind of reward.:fart:I'm always trying to find new ways to teach they are much harder than the older kids and yet in someways easier because it is more playfull if they don't get their kicks with perfect form it's not that big of a deal they just don't have the dexterity yet, although I had one who at 3 could throw a perfect yup cha ki, and I mean perfect, over his head. We have a lot of adult black belts so the more senior ranks get to teach the older classes but I did get to cover for an adult class once it was like a cake walk!!


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## claireg31 (Sep 5, 2008)

i help out with the dragonfly classes and its rewarding and frustrating in the same way.

the warm up between the childrens classes and the adult classes are very different. With the children we need to keep it fun and moving constantly. A favourite of mine is a circuit with 4 or 5 different exercises at each station, eg throwing soft balls to partners, jumping in and out of hoops, doing bunny hops (they love them) if we can we put out the crash mat and they do jogging on the spot.

the streching exercises are great fun, we do a quick routine starting with there necks and goes all the way down to there toes, very similar to the adult classes but just made up to a wee story.

the line work - we do this every class, it keeps a routine of sorts, the children that we have at the moment seem to behave better knowing that there is a routine. We keep the line work short and sweet, go through all of the basic moves in kicks, adding extra bits on to the various belts as needed, same again with the hand techniques.

we then do pad work, this is where we get them into smaller groups and take a proper look at how they are doing, we too have squeaky pads for controlled punches, how i love them!!

then we have playtime, we usually do a running game with them halfway through the class, it keeps them happy and they can run off any steam, a very quick bathroom break, yes, 5 year olds, love them!!

last half of the class we do forms. now, depending on the child, we might teach them all of it, or just parts of it. For the most part they will learn all of it for there grading, however, we don't expect them to be absolutly perfect at it, so long as they can show us that they have a grasp on how it should look, occassionally we get some children that are fantastic!

we also do a bit of tag sparring, loose tags tucked into their belts for there opponents to catch, the children enjoy it and until they get there sparring gear it lets them start to learn about sparring.
The children that have their own gear get to spar properly, and it is difficult to get some of them to understand that they can't just beat up there opponents, sometimes us adults get to join in too, the kids like to think they can get a chance to beat up ma'am!!

The youngest we allow them to join is 5, i feel that any younger and it would make it too difficult on the instructors, but that is just my humble opinion!

claire


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## tko4u (Sep 5, 2008)

We will allow 3 or 4yr olds to come in for an assessment test, to see if their teachable, if they are, we put them in 3-7 lil tigers, they work the basic fundamentals, play fun taekwondo games, and learn the appropriate form for their rank


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## Lynne (Sep 6, 2008)

At four, they may take lessons. 

My daughter is assisting in classes and says they can be taught.  It takes a lot of creativity to keep them focused though.  She has to jump around, playing hide n' seek with the focus pad and so on.

In one class, they were kicking and doing a horse stance.

I'll ask if they can learn forms at this age.  I bet they can.

I'd rather teach the four year olds than have the 8 year olds tell me I did something wrong! (If you do something wrong, they will let you know - or if you do something in a form different they will let you know.)


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## stickarts (Sep 6, 2008)

We will try them at 3 or 4 but have found that age 5 seems to work best for the majority of kids that we have seen due to attention span.


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## JT_the_Ninja (Sep 6, 2008)

We allow kids to start as early as 4...not my preference (especially because I usually have to initiate the ankle-biters). Everyone, young or old, gets a few private lessons when they start up, until they're ready to join the class. I had about 4 or so private lessons, I think (remembering back to '99), when I started. Starting that young, though...you just learn to lower your expectations and raise your patience level to maximum and then some (emphasis on the patience). It's fun teaching kids which side is their right and which is their left (and having them argue with you about it). So you start out with basics, basics, basics, and repeat as long as necessary. 

I personally have stated on several occasions that I, were I in charge, wouldn't start anyone younger than 10 (call it the "Pokémon" age limit), for two reasons: (1) you need some amount of concentration and coordination to build the right muscle memories; and (2) starting at 4, that puts kids on a track to test for (and likely pass the test for) cho dan by age 8...they never get a chance to test with any real expectations put on them. We used to have an age restriction of 16 to test for cho dan, but that's gone...I just don't like seeing all these munchkin-sized red belts, cho dan bos, and cho dans who still do techniques like white belts.


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## Yossarian (Sep 6, 2008)

6 is the youngest ill teach, any younger than that and I feel you really need a seperate class/curriculum. I teach the kids and adults basically the same thing but modify it for the younger ones with games etc. I will sometimes take a five year old if they have a parent or sibling training too.



> we then do pad work, this is where we get them into smaller groups and take a proper look at how they are doing, we too have squeaky pads for controlled punches, how i love them!!



I had no idea squeaky pads existed, never mind the kids im getting some for the adults.


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## claireg31 (Sep 6, 2008)

Yossarian said:


> 6 is the youngest ill teach, any younger than that and I feel you really need a seperate class/curriculum. I teach the kids and adults basically the same thing but modify it for the younger ones with games etc. I will sometimes take a five year old if they have a parent or sibling training too.
> 
> 
> 
> I had no idea squeaky pads existed, never mind the kids im getting some for the adults.


I'll check with Miles/Heather to find out where they got them, they are great fun!!


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## foggymorning162 (Sep 6, 2008)

Yossarian said:


> 6 is the youngest ill teach, any younger than that and I feel you really need a seperate class/curriculum.


 

We do have a totaly seperate corriculum for them also for the next class which is kid kicks (5 and 6 yr olds) they do not start the full program until 7 although the kid kicks do gain rank ( I wish they didn't but its not my school) just at a slower pace, the 3 and 4s have a seperate belt system.

Also the classes are shorter for attention span reasons 3-4=30min 5-6=45min  7 and up 1 hour


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## astrobiologist (Sep 6, 2008)

We start children at 5 at our school.  

I usually teach the adults and the advanced classes.  When I do teach the beginner younglings, I teach them like I teach the adults, but I focus less on martial application (that comes later, once they've been around a little) and more on having fun while learning techniques.  I like to encorporate animals or cartoons or other devices into our drills so that the children keep theri focus.

http://www.4kicks.com/ has some good drills you can work with to fit your classes and your training...


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## Muwubu16858 (Sep 18, 2008)

I teach 5 yrs. and up. My teacher won't teach anyone under 13 years old. 
From 5 -7, we only consentrate on basics and hyung. When they reach 8 yrs. and have a blue belt or higher, they learn sparring. The sparring style we teach is similar to kyokushinkai, but we add gloves to the mix, since we allow punching to the face. (Boxing gloves for beginners, and open-finger gloves for advanced[Cho Dan and up]).


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## Meghann1965 (Sep 19, 2008)

We were starting children between 3-4 into "Little Ninjas" and 4-5 year olds, up to first grade went into "Young Warriors".  It is extremely hard at that age to keep their attention span long enough to teach an entire form.  We wound up taking a technique and teaching them that.  We also interspersed it with games with blockers, so that they'd learn a proper high or low block.  

It's fun, but challenging.  You have to have a LOT of patience to teach a child that young and make it interesting for them.


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## Lynne (Sep 19, 2008)

Our red belts are required to assist in class and have a meeting every month to discuss ways of dealing with problems, how to encourage the little ones, etc.  This past meeting the instructor said, "If you can get the little ones to do one kick during the class, you have succeeded.  Try not to get frustrated."  

To me, I think it's kind of weird that the red belt children assist in class.  It's good to build leadership skills I suppose.  But they still pick their nose, eat their boogers, and goof off. They just don't have good focus overall.  And they are supposed to set an example for the other children.  (We have red belts who are only seven years old and they must assist in class, boogers and all  )

Develomentally, kindergartners are doing exceptional if they can hop on one leg.  Five and six year olds can do jump front kicks!  I saw it myself.  Impressive.


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## foggymorning162 (Sep 20, 2008)

My son started assisting me at 8 he was as difficult to deal with as the little ones sometimes but it really helped him with his confidence not that he doesn't still need help. Sometimes when they see how difficult it is to get what you want out of someone who isn't focused they make the conection and focus better themselves, sometimes they don't. Very few of our junior students assist though it is usually reserved for adults. It is amazing though what you can get out of the little ones you just need to be patient and remember that they just aren't physically capable of certain movements, they don't have the motor control so don't expect too much. Although as I've said before we are not teaching them TSD we are working on the behavior skills they will need to succeed in TSD and life.


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## TK421 (Sep 20, 2008)

Our daughter started at around 5 years old in the Tiny Tigers class.  That was a 12 month class and then she went into the Little Dragons class for another 12 months.  This would put her around 7 when she tested for her eight gup (orange belt, I think).  It was in the hopes that she would learn the five tenants.  She is a brown belt now and her big sister, 15yrs old, is testing for her black belt next weekend.


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## L4WM4N (Oct 25, 2008)

My son started 10-01-08 in our Little Dragons class. He's 5. 

He had his first belt test last night. They demonstrated basic low and high blocks, front punch, horse stance with step behind side kick and step in front roundhouse kick, the tiger and bear forms, sparring and breaking. 

A good time was had by all ...


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## JT_the_Ninja (Oct 27, 2008)

L4WM4N said:


> My son started 10-01-08 in our Little Dragons class. He's 5.
> 
> He had his first belt test last night. They demonstrated basic low and high blocks, front punch, horse stance with step behind side kick and step in front roundhouse kick, the tiger and bear forms, sparring and breaking.
> 
> A good time was had by all ...



Tiger and Bear forms? Do elaborate...do they have Korean names?


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## L4WM4N (Oct 27, 2008)

JT_the_Ninja said:


> Tiger and Bear forms? Do elaborate...do they have Korean names?


 
For the Little Dragons, Kee Cho Hyung Il Boo is broken down into 4 forms.  They are required to complete Kee Cho Hyung Il Boo in it's entirety to progress to their yellow belt.  For this test, they received a yellow / white belt.  Half belts are used to countinuously reward young children so that they may stay interested.

It is broken down like this:
1 - Tiger Form:  Left and Right First Line
2 - Bear Form: previous + Second Line 
3 - Dragon Form: Previous + Left and Right Third Line
4 - Kee Cho Hyung Il Boo


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