How do you know that they are ready? This is a tough one. A lot of children are brought into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu not because the child showed interest but because the parent has decided that that is what is valuable for their child, and that’s okay.
But it depends on what school you bring them to in Tacoma, what kind of learning environment the instructor is setting, and what the instructor values in comparison to what the parent values.
Readiness Is Not About Being A World Champion
Some four- and five-year-olds get brought in, and the parent is like I’m ready for my kid to be a world champion. How are we going to train for that when your kid can’t skip, hop, leap, shuffle, or perform any of the basic locomotor skills, and you want to teach your kid how to arm lure here?
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu For Kids
That class is not a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class, that class is a physical education, gymnastics, judo, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu class. There are no submissions in that class. Teaching your child how to move, how to have control of their body, and how to have self-control.
You learn how to control yourself, and through learning how to control yourself, doing things out of control with someone else, the focus for the four rules is on self-control.
Self-Control Comes Before Submissions
Not only because you can put it on them, but because your child will learn how to balance and learn how to control their body. When do they start at a Tacoma school? 4, and for 4 to 6, the focus is on self-control.
Now there are no firm lines, no child is the same, every child is different. When you understand that every child is different, some five-year-olds are in the seven to twelve-year-old class, some eleven-year-olds are in the adult class, and a fourteen-year-old is in the kids class.
Every Child Is Different
Where do they fit? Which class they are in at a Tacoma gym is totally dictated by their cognitive and physical abilities. If a child is ready to move up, they move up, if they’re not ready to move up, they don’t move up, but everyone looks for labels.
Make Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Fun, Not Forced
You have to make it fun, you have to make it fun, and it should be fun once a week, rather than for them to hate it three times a week. The kid that hates it three times a week, and you think you’re doing him a favor or doing her a favor because you got her in there, whether she likes it or not, she’s three years old.
The best possible thing you can do is not make them train in jiu-jitsu right now, but make them enjoy jiu-jitsu right now. Find a good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school in Tacoma where the jiu jitsu is fun, don’t force it down their throat.
The Right Age To Start Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Tacoma
A kid tried it at six years old, but he didn’t like it. He tried it once and choked up and cried. He tried it at age seven, didn’t like it, hated it. I tried it at age eight, didn’t like it, hated it.
At age nine, his dad had started training, and he kind of got to look at it like oh that’s pretty cool, by the time he was nine and he tried it, he liked it, and he liked it because he liked it. He was then old enough to make a decision and wanted to train, and he started training hard, and he got good really quickly.
Let Them Win, But Let Them Learn To Lose
Put them in positions where they’re going to win, and not every time, because you do have to learn how to lose. Let them learn to lose when they get a little older.
Frequently Asked Questions
At what age can a child start training?
4 and for 4 to 6, focus on self-control. Now, there are no firm lines; no child is the same; every child is different
Is a young kids’ class actually jiu-jitsu?
That class is not a Brazilian jiu-jitsu class. That class is a physical education gymnastics, judo, wrestling and jiu-jitsu class. There are no submissions in that class
How do you know which class a child belongs in at a Tacoma gym?
Which class they are in is totally dictated by their cognitive and physical abilities. If a child is ready to move up, they move up they’re not ready to move up, they don’t move up
Should the classes be fun or serious for a young child?
It is much better for it to be fun once a week than for them to hate it three times a week
Does starting later mean a child falls behind?
It wasn’t like, ” Oh, he missed those four years of training; they didn’t make a big difference.” They don’t make a big difference.
Final Thoughts
The most important thing you can do as a parent is make it fun for your kids, make working out fun, make jiu jitsu fun, make school fun, make these things enjoyable, and let them win.
Put them in positions where they’re going to win, and not every time, because you do have to learn how to lose. Let them learn to lose when they get a little older, but make it fun for them; that’s the key.
