Why are you doing Karate?
One of the most common questions asked to a martial artist.
How does a five year old understand why he or she is doing karate?
Do they really understand and know what they are actually doing?
Interesting topic however at that age maybe we should ask the parents why?
However what answer do you get when you ask a 5 year old why he or she is doing karate? Most common answer?… have a guess….” I don’t know ”
Having dealt with and obtaining a great pleasure by teaching martial arts to young children at that age it’s about teaching them to learn to fight not to fight. A motto that Budo Kyokushin Kids strongly believes in. We can show kids how to kick and punch however the difficulty becomes how do we teach them not to use it or when is it actually time to use it. For a 5 year old it’s all about fun and games. A child at that age does not understand the philosophy, the tradition or the actual applications. What that child sees is an opportunity to be like one of their TV heroes, and when my children were young it was all about being a ninja turtle. Karate has to be fun for a 5 year old, it is all about enjoying what they are doing. It’s about a little discipline, followed by respect and trying to get the child to engage and interact with other students. It’s about keeping them keen and enthused until they reach an age when they start to understand it a little more and then start to become more focused and more serious about their training.It’s about exposing them to the world of martial arts so when they do get to an age where they start to understand they will be more enthused to commit to training and to learn the real art.
Let’s face it the most enjoyable thing in teaching is teaching a student that is enthused and committed which leads back to the old wise statement the instructor is only as good as the student that he or she is teaching.
Osu
Shihan B