My boy just turned 4 - and started Taekwon Do

Wanted to be like his daddy!

He's in a class for only 4 and 5 year olds. It'll take him roughly two years to get from 10th to 8th gup, but there are several "interim" belts built into this program so the kids get rewards for their effort and hopefully stay motivated. He'll still have to learn everything in this class he would as a junior to advance in each gup, so I'm fine with the setup.

The best thing at our school is once you go from individual to family (an extra $30 per month), all family members are eligible for no extra $$$. So my 6 year old girl has decided to take TKD for 3 months until gymnastics starts.

Now if I could only get the wife on board, we'd be all set.

Great to see kids getting involved in MA at such an early age, back in the old days know one usually started until they were in high school, man have times changed.

4, wow that's young. The youngest kids we have in the kids class is 6.

I never really understood why people would want there kids to start so early. In my opinion, kids should start when there like 10 or something, that way they are a little older, easier to teach, more capable of handling such a class that has strict rules and such.

I just think little kids get to distracted a want to have more fun than actually learn something.

errrrrr whatever, it's all fun for them anyway.

I really wish my parents had started me when I was 4. I think that is great! As long as the child wants to do it, I can't think of a better way to help with raising a disciplined and focused child. Two thumbs way up!

GojuRyuboy13 - you'd be surprised how much kids can learn at that age. Sure, their attention span is lower and they're just beginning to gain good coordination, so you adjust teaching to that. That's why it basically takes them (on average) a year to advance one gup.

I've seen a lot of preschoolers learn quite a bit in basketball, swimming and soccer leagues. No reason martial arts are any different.

I think that's great, WolfGate.

Let's hope he has fun. Set some easy goals that he can achieve. Our biggest job with the kids is keeping them motivated enough to stay engaged as they get older ... I hate seeing kids drop out but that is going to happen. Some kids are involved for the wrong reasons but the ones that have fun and are achieving their goals usually stay for a much longer period of time.

haha 4 is young? i can get my 4 year olds to retain a good amount of basics with 8 lessons once per week, and for some strange reason i ended up teaching 2 1/2 year olds at a summer camp. uhm yeah they can count to 10 in korean, but i aint about to teach em how to kick.

Hey WolfGate, our school has something similar as well. The younger students are known as little dragons and they have 45 minute classes and are mostly about having fun. They learn a lot about disipline and respect but in our case they stay at a white belt for the entire time until they are old enough to go to children classes. We also offer the discounts for the more family members.

I had my daughter in the childrens class for just about 2 years and was at a yellow/green belt. Tried to get my wife to join but she doesn't like the feet thing ... hates feet. Daughter quit at 12 because because lost interest. Tried at first to force her but my wife and instructor made me realize that wasn't the best method so I let her choose. Hopefully when she is older she will get the interest again.

Our school has many families in it as a whole. This is impressive ... good luck on getting your wife on board. She doesn't know what she's missing.

What a coincidence! I also started TKD at the age of 4!

I think it's a good age to begin because you're not hindered by preconceptions about body mechanics and can learn from a clean slate. I was taught proper TKD at that age too, it wasn't fun and games. I trained with the whole class, the concept of "Little Dragons" hadn't been spread widely back in 1989.

I had to do push ups, sit ups, punches and (flying) kicks just like everyone else. (It's a bit more difficult at that age because you're all out of proportion, but I managed) My instructor paid the little ones more attention but he didn't go easy on us just because we were kids. We trained with ages right up to mid-teens, even some young adults.

I was doing proper TKD at age 4 and I'm proud of it. I learned a lot about respect and self control from back then. It made me the person I am today.

The only unfortunate thing about starting at that age in my Dojang is that it will take you about 9 years of training to get to black belt. Our instructor would not permit a student to grade if he did not think the student was mature enough to be a certain belt.

That's Awesome!!
My boy started at 4 also and is now almost seven. He fought (errr sparred) in his first tournament on saturday (took third). Unfortunately our school is a borderline McDojo if you let them be. We paid through blackbelt for the both of us and got a real huge discount. They never pressure us about belt testing, and let us come up to 6 days a week, and the Masters are excellent teachers. But......if you are one of those parents who just wants your kid to be a blackbelt, they are willing to test you every 8 weeks for a nominal fee. Im just glad that I'm not one of those parents, and Im also glad that he is okay with watching other kids constantly pass him in belts. Of course it also helps that he knows that all the kids that pass him in belt color still can't beat him in sparring, or even come close to matching his stances in forms. So once again CONGRATS!! TKD has done nothing but better my childs life.

Ufaded

It's amazing how much kids can learn at a very young age, for example learning an entire language. Theoretically as long as your kid is old enough to walk, they can learn martial arts. By mimicking you training at home. My boy is only 2 and a half, and he's surprised me by what he can do for his age. Although i won't take him to classes till he is at least school age (if he wants to), when i train at home i'm only to happy to let my son watch and learn.

don't get nervous...I'm happy that the kids are happy love, peace, play nice and all of that great stuff we need more of in the world.
I have a serious question though...it seems if a toddler wanted to start MA (or I should say if the parents wanted the toddler to do MA), then there is a greater chance of a TKD club allowing them to start so young compared to say, a TMA club. my question: why do you think that is?
Is TKD better suited for toddlers? or are TKD instructors more qualified/specialized to teach this age student?

thanks in advance.