Kid Karate

The fact is, anyone can hang a shingle and start teaching karate for kids. There is no body governing all martial arts, there is no licensing body. Anyone can invent their own "style," award themselves whatever belt they want and start taking on students. How is a parent, who is not necessarily a martial artist to know whether the instructor is qualified? This is important, as an unqualified instructor can do your child harm by teaching them techniques incorrectly, or not instilling any sense of restraint in using techniques against classmates (siblings, yourself).

Check out the dojo (place where karate is taught and practiced). Is it clean? Is the equipment generally in good repair? Are the young students wearing protective gear during sparring? Is the kidssparring closely supervised?

Talk to the instructor/owner. Ask them who their teacher is. Then ask them who their teacher's teacher is. Some who been at it long enough to run a school should know their lineage. In Kenpo at least, it's not that hard to verify someone's lineage and maybe talk to some folks about that instructor's qualifications. Ask the instructor how long it generally takes to earn a junior blackbelt. If it's less than a couple of years, they are probably just selling blackbelts.

Visit the dojo during a class at your child's age-level. How does the instructor interact with the students? Is he/she encouraging? Patient? Do the students respect him/her?




Talk to some of the parents of students already enrolled. Ask them how long their child has been enrolled, what they think of the instructor, etcetera. Ask them if they've had a lot of extra costs, like tournament fees, blackbelt club fees, etcetera. You can expect some extra costs, but the instructor is constantly standing in front of you with his hand out for money, a school with an attractively low tuition cost may not be so cost-effective. Look online to see what the going rate is for uniforms and equipment and whether the instructor is charging more than a reasonable retail rate for the gear in the pro shop.

Also look at the "belt distribution." at the school. If you don't see any upper belts, wonder why kids aren't sticking with the program here. If you only see upper belts, wonder why the school isn't attracting new students. Now there may be good reasons for either... a brand new school may have more white belts than upper belts. Or you may have walked in on a blackbelt club where students are not invited to join until purple belt or higher. Ask.

There are several ways that you can help your child get the most out of his or her martial arts study. If you can't watch your child's class, find out from the instructor what your child should be working on between classes. Treat karate class as you would treat a piano class. Encourage your child to spend some time every day working on her karate. Schedule the time, for example, for (at least) half an hour after she's completed her homework. Once they get recognition in class for their improvement, they will be much more motivated to practice new skills at home. Many martial arts techniques work much better when better balance and strength is developed through practice. This takes much longer to achieve if the only practice your child gets is in a once or twice a week class.

Back the instructor up as much as is appropriate. If your child is docked a stripe for poor behavior, you're not doing him or her any good by arguing with the instructor over it. Let them know that you support them; thank them for teaching your child manners, respect, focus, etcetera. Let your son or daughter know that you support the teacher's decision. Likewise if the teacher recognizes your child for outstanding improvement, a well-executed kata, or a hard-won point in sparring, tell your child after class that you are also proud. By reinforcing what the karate instructor is trying to teach, you magnify it's impact in your child's life, whether this is immediately apparent or not. You water a tomato plant every day in the expectation that after time to grow, it will bear fruit.