How to Train Small Children

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[d2l]

I recently earned my black belt in Aikido/Jutsu. While my school tends to go with the more "combative" forms (Jutsu/Jiujitsu), the Do is never ignored. I personally find the Do aspect quite helpful in everyday life. I have only been studying for a about three and a half years at a formal school. I train everyday, and I train on concrete, which tends to put some people off that want to practice with me. But that's just how I do things. I figure in the real world (and this is coming from real life experiences) , that fights don't happen on a mat or in grass. When I received my belt, I actually was quite humble. I felt it to be the beginning, and not the end as some may. Believe it or not, I chose, or rather Aikido chose me as a form of stress release. I have been in many violent situations. Everything from the streets, to military service, to working in a prison. Seems odd that I would find peace in something that could be so violent. Upon receiving my rank, my Sensai wanted me to instruct my very first class. I am confident, not arrogant, in my abilities. However it was nerve raking for me to stand in front of 20 people and go through techniques that they would have to learn over and over again. I gave some back round information on myself, so that those who did not know me would feel more comfortable. I explained to new Deshi (students) that from something as simple as an Ikkyo, countless techniques can be derived from just that technique. And that in time, they will discover techniques that they have created themselves. I went through Shihonage with them as well, and explained that just with Ikkyo, in time they will come up with a technique on their own. We also did Kokyunage, which everyone seemed to highly enjoy. We ended the class with a Randori (my favorite part of class :) ). No matter the rank, everyone participates in whatever is on the agenda that day. My Sensai said I did a very good job, and everybody learned something that was easy, practical, and devastating if need be. The advice I'm looking for, is how do I help train small children? Other than break falls, blocks, and strikes? To me, joint manipulation and chokes need to be monitored with them very closely. Advice from those that have trained small children will be greatly appreciated. :)

[philippe willaume]

I recently earned my black belt in Aikido/Jutsu. While my school tends to go with the more "combative" forms (Jutsu/Jiujitsu), the Do is never ignored. I personally find the Do aspect quite helpful in everyday life. I have only been studying for a about three and a half years at a formal school. I train everyday, and I train on concrete, which tends to put some people off that want to practice with me. But that's just how I do things. I figure in the real world (and this is coming from real life experiences) , that fights don't happen on a mat or in grass. When I received my belt, I actually was quite humble. I felt it to be the beginning, and not the end as some may. Believe it or not, I chose, or rather Aikido chose me as a form of stress release. I have been in many violent situations. Everything from the streets, to military service, to working in a prison. Seems odd that I would find peace in something that could be so violent. Upon receiving my rank, my Sensai wanted me to instruct my very first class. I am confident, not arrogant, in my abilities. However it was nerve raking for me to stand in front of 20 people and go through techniques that they would have to learn over and over again. I gave some back round information on myself, so that those who did not know me would feel more comfortable. I explained to new Deshi (students) that from something as simple as an Ikkyo, countless techniques can be derived from just that technique. And that in time, they will discover techniques that they have created themselves. I went through Shihonage with them as well, and explained that just with Ikkyo, in time they will come up with a technique on their own. We also did Kokyunage, which everyone seemed to highly enjoy. We ended the class with a Randori (my favorite part of class :) ). No matter the rank, everyone participates in whatever is on the agenda that day. My Sensai said I did a very good job, and everybody learned something that was easy, practical, and devastating if need be. The advice I'm looking for, is how do I help train small children? Other than break falls, blocks, and strikes? To me, joint manipulation and chokes need to be monitored with them very closely. Advice from those that have trained small children will be greatly appreciated. :)

hello
get some mat, parents do not take well when you give their kids back with dents in them

get the US equivalent of a CRB and young person coach.
get some mat, parents do not take well when you give their kids back with dents in them

get the blessing of you sensei and stick to whatever the curiculum and procedure to teach childrens are.
get some mat, parents do not take well when you give their kids back with dents in them

phil
ps in case i did not mention it before
get some mats, parent do not take well when you give their kids back with dents in them

[lbb]

What age ranges are you talking about? There are differences in cognitive and motor development, so that a generalization that's valid for an 8-year-old doesn't work for a 3-year-old.

[Mark Uttech]

Onegaishimasu. The best advice I can give you is to visit other aikido dojos that have children's classes and watch a couple. This wil;l at least give you some starting point idea. When I first contemplated teaching children, I visited judo and karate dojo. At that time there were no childrens' aikido classes, so I really had to do a lot of study and reflection. Good luck.

In gassho,

Mark

[d2l]

Hmmm...get some mat. Now theres a great idea! lol. I meant that I train with those that are willing to train with me outside of class, on concrete. The age range right now is between 10 and 12. Thanks for the in put so far. :)

[Rupert Atkinson]

Get some mats. You can throw people harder on mats.

[Marie Noelle Fequiere]

Besides the mats, try to find a way to include some playing in the training. Kids like to have fun, they already are forced to go to school wether they like it or not, so make training fun. Find fun ways to make them practice basic techniques, so they do not get rapidly bored. They also need a lot of encouragements, a lot of parents enroll their kids in martial arts classes because they lack self confidence. So encourage a lot, praise the tiniest improvements, show them that you care.
So that's my bit of advice. Fun on the mat!

[crbateman]

There is a book by Michael Friedl, entitled "Ah, to be a Kid: 3 Dozen Aikido Games for Children". It is out of print, and used copies are not the easiest to find, but if you can score one, there are some good ideas in there.

[Chris Parkerson]

Hmmm...get some mat. Now theres a great idea! lol. I meant that I train with those that are willing to train with me outside of class, on concrete. The age range right now is between 10 and 12. Thanks for the in put so far. :)

Look into books that discuss how to teach "indigo" children. Most of them will have the indigo aura. I opened a dojo for 2 reasons, one of which was to test out Nancy Ann Tappe's understanding of these kids. These kids are hardwired for highly advanced learning and most traditional teaching methods are tedious andboring to them. That is why so many are attributed as ADD.

Conclusions:

You cannot BS them.
you must allow an equitable negotiation
involve and empower them in every aspect of your curriculum

Things I did with success:

Warm ups - let each child pick the next exercise and lead it by going down the line. If one is shy ask the next one to help them pick. Make sure the shy one agrees to the choice.

Do not overconcsntrate on technique. Focus on principles and put them into application. Randori is about avoidance using trailing and twirling. Get from one end of the dojo to the other as several uke participate as moving obstructions.

Techniques: The Circle of Doom
surround on child. Point to an attacker, one at a time.do not overwhelm the tori. Negotiate the level of speed, what kind of attacks, how much resistance individually as Indigos like to work on specific issues of their own choosing.

Sparring/wrestling
safe MMA
do not allow punches, kicksand throws together. Too dangerous. Punches and throws with groundwork works well.

Negotiate the following. No bullies. Higher belts train as mentors to lower belts. They wrestle at the pace of the less trained individual. Indigos love to help eachother. Work toward 1 minute rounds. No winners/loser stuff. Just go the distance.

Fail Safe: all students participate in every fight as safety coaches.
if sensei notices any bullying, he notifies the safety coaches. Let them participate in the evaluation. If guilty, by previous agreement, the coaches turn their backs on the bully until he apologizes to his training partner.

Failsafe:

[Faith Hansen]

Look into books that discuss how to teach "indigo" children. Most of them will have the indigo aura. I opened a dojo for 2 reasons, one of which was to test out Nancy Ann Tappe's understanding of these kids. These kids are hardwired for highly advanced learning and most traditional teaching methods are tedious andboring to them. That is why so many are attributed as ADD.

Conclusions:

You cannot BS them.
you must allow an equitable negotiation
involve and empower them in every aspect of your curriculum

Things I did with success:

Warm ups - let each child pick the next exercise and lead it by going down the line. If one is shy ask the next one to help them pick. Make sure the shy one agrees to the choice.

Do not overconcsntrate on technique. Focus on principles and put them into application. Randori is about avoidance using trailing and twirling. Get from one end of the dojo to the other as several uke participate as moving obstructions.

Techniques: The Circle of Doom
surround on child. Point to an attacker, one at a time.do not overwhelm the tori. Negotiate the level of speed, what kind of attacks, how much resistance individually as Indigos like to work on specific issues of their own choosing.

Sparring/wrestling
safe MMA
do not allow punches, kicksand throws together. Too dangerous. Punches and throws with groundwork works well.

Negotiate the following. No bullies. Higher belts train as mentors to lower belts. They wrestle at the pace of the less trained individual. Indigos love to help eachother. Work toward 1 minute rounds. No winners/loser stuff. Just go the distance.

Fail Safe: all students participate in every fight as safety coaches.
if sensei notices any bullying, he notifies the safety coaches. Let them participate in the evaluation. If guilty, by previous agreement, the coaches turn their backs on the bully until he apologizes to his training partner.

Failsafe:

Ummmmm. Indigo children? Indigo aura? Can you clue some of in to what you are talking about?

-F

[Chris Parkerson]

Faith,

Here is a good website.
http://www.indigochild.com/

Wikipedia does not do the subject much justice and is skewed.

[John Connolly]

Seems like Wikipedia provides info on its theory and origin and also provides criticism. Any phenomena that are not based on empirical evidence and are used to promote the ideas of a few individuals in order to boost their careers as "specialists" in the field is suspect. The wiki article seems balanced to me, considering it offers both sides.

To the original poster-- Training small children in joint manipulation/locks is generally thought to be a bad idea. It is easy to cause irreparable damage to young joints, just ask any old ballerina that started very young about their hips, toes, and ankles. What many dojos do, is teach children -some- Judo throws, tumbling, and solo Kokyu exercises (not Kokyu throws).

[Chris Parkerson]

Nancy ann Tappe obtained her PhD in Psychology. She use a large number of people in her experiments on aura colorant personality traits.

Th ebooks on those websites are full of PhD contributors. If, indeed, we are witnessing an evolutionary jump in human consciousness via children with indigo aura, I doubt the mainstay of peer review at the University will accept itfor a few more years.

My own empirical experience was that the methods I developed via understanding the indigo child and teaching these kids with those methods was quite effective and we all had a great time.

[Al Gutierrez]

Sounds like a bunch of complete nonsense to me. Kids are kids for the most part - they all need attention, love and discipline and they probably need to play outside more.

But I'd recommend Gaku Homma's book on Aikido for kids. I've forgotten the title. I'm sure you can look it up.

Al Gtz.

[crbateman]

But I'd recommend Gaku Homma's book on Aikido for kids. I've forgotten the title. I'm sure you can look it up.It's called "Children and the Martial Arts: An Aikido Point of View"...

[Chris Parkerson]

Sounds like a bunch of complete nonsense to me. Kids are kids for the most part - they all need attention, love and discipline and they probably need to play outside more.

But I'd recommend Gaku Homma's book on Aikido for kids. I've forgotten the title. I'm sure you can look it up.

Al Gtz.

Oh well. Each to their own.
I knew and trained with NancyAnn for several years before I did the experiment. She is an incredible counselor and life coach with animternational following. Not long for this earth, she has recently left public life. But her work is trickling down into education departments more and more every year.

As the thread stated, any and all advice welcomed.

[d2l]

Thanks so far for all the input guys. It means alot. I have been asked about kids that have Autism, if Aikido would be a good thing or not. My girlfriend has an Autistic child who is "high functioning" (I hate when people tend to classify someones abilities like that) and she asked me, as well as my Sensai about him getting involved (if that is something he wants to do of course), and both of us concluded that if we brought him to a class (private lesson), it is my Sensai's way, or the class is done with him. Any opinions, or experience's?

[mickeygelum]

Sounds like a bunch of complete nonsense to me. Kids are kids for the most part - they all need attention, love and discipline and they probably need to play outside more.

Al Gutierrez

Mr. Gutierrez, you must live in a very pristine universe. Where there are no mentors or role models, there is a lack of morale education.
With a lack of proper morale guidance, the young mind becomes a product of it's environment. Sadly, the the socio-economic standards do not prevent a young mind from choosing it's own path as in the cases of Columbine and Virginia Tech. Or in the cases of the Patrick Beehan and Raymond Fife homicides, and all too many others.

Come to my neighborhood, emphasis on " HOOD "...they play " Dodge-Bullet " and " Tag-Your-Dead ".

So, let's hope that more folks, like Mr. Stebbins and Mr. Parkerson, attempt to make a difference with the young minds that are stagnant.

Last Thursday at class, one of the academic teachers opened the door to lead the first wave of busriders to the bus, she was met by two juveniles with handguns..we locked down the school for two hours and had a room to room search.

But, I agree with you, it is nonsense....:confused:

Mr. Stebbins...I have a large juvenile contingent in my care. I will offer this piece of advice, have a test class. Ten students and only ten, see how YOU are able to handle the task first. My partner and I have approximately 75 inner-city children, ages 6 - 13, three times a week. We started out with 130+, it is not a problem for me, yet at times the patience level is taken to the limit for him. Your success or failure will depend on your adaptability to juvenile mindset. We teach Aikido and Karate, the children do not know which is which...they just love it.

Train well,

Mickey

[John Connolly]

Mickey, I believe Al was responding to the notion of separating children into categories based on "the color of their Aura".

My guess, since he also included a resource for kids and Aikido, is that he is not against the idea of kids learning Aikido.

[Dathan Camacho]

I don't teach but my two oldest daughters (ages 5, and 7) are enrolled in Judo classes and I've gotten to observe what seems to work with them.

1st - get mats and at least one crash pad (those gymnastics style mats that are like a foot thick)
2nd - I don't know anything about indigo children, but Chris is right that the class needs to be fun. We visited a children's Aikido class once and the focus seemed to be primarily on discipline (i.e sitting in seiza and learning formalities). Repetition and structure are the right approach for adults, but they're not the right way to get little kids to associate Aikido with fun, and creating a positive impression is a far more important goal than techniqes or structure - for a 5 year old at least. The kids love wrestling, grappling, stretching, falls, etc., but it needs to be presented in a fun manner. I don't have an opinion on whether joint locks are okay for kids, although I've heard that it isn't good for them till they're at least teenagers. Not sure about that. My two cents, good luck!

[Chris Parkerson]

Mickey, I believe Al was responding to the notion of separating children into categories based on "the color of their Aura".

My guess, since he also included a resource for kids and Aikido, is that he is not against the idea of kids learning Aikido.

With all due respect, you may have misunderstood my meaning. There is no separation involved. The use of seeing and understanding a person's acashic record (via aura color) is about how to better understand ones personal orientation with the world and with others. Two people may do the same thing but for very different reasons. Aura color can pinpoint this kind of understanding acording to Nancy Tappe and her ability to heal personal relationships with this kind of interpersonal understanding was nothing less than miraculous.

Most PhD experts who discuss "indigo children", however, avoid talking about aura color and primarily focus on indigo personality traits. While they miss some subtlety, they do get the basics well.

Today, 97% of the kids we teach are indigos. But indigos can be categorized into 3 subtypes that are not discussed in most literature that use the term. On top of that, about 30% across the board have tendencies towards anarchy and that is what Mike Gellum is refering to. These kids inherently know that they are here to become a bridge to a new consciousness. The problem is that if we force them into old paradigms of learning, they grow bored and want to change things right away. But they do not have the life experience to do so, thus they create chaos, anarchy and lawless injuries.

Many are also diagnosed with ADHD and ADD, they are given ridalin aas if this will help them cope. It makes them very frustrated and give them that feeling of "separation" you spoke of.

If taught with old paradigms, we will see little change in the ADD and ADHD. We will be creating a generation of Stepford Children.

Now, what I saw in the training method I used was an "opening up" of kids that were not doing well in school. I saw their inherent creativity that was being suppressed. I also saw confidence grow because an adult was willing to give them the space to blossom. Finally, I saw other kids welcome them into the group because they began to trust themselves.

Here are some indigo traits:

They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it)

They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others don't share that.
Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell the parents "who they are."
They have difficulty with absolute authority (authority without explanation or choice).

They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.

They get frustrated with systems that are ritually oriented and don't require creative thought.

They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters" (nonconforming to any system).

They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they often turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially.

They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home and finds out what you did").

They are not shy in letting you know what they need.

[d2l]

Any thoughts to the Autism question? I'm just a dumb, knuckle draggin' convict guard, so you might have to break it down for me. :D

[Mark Uttech]

Onegaishimasu. There is a website, www.bodymindandmodem.com that discusses aikido and autism.

In gassho,

Mark

[Chris Parkerson]

Any thoughts to the Autism question? I'm just a dumb, knuckle draggin' convict guard, so you might have to break it down for me. :D

right now there is a lot of talk about autism being a result of mercury poisoning during early infancy.

There may be another source in the indigos. As c
newborns, we have few filters on our senses. Newborns can often see aura on everything, and can see other dimensions. Our society requires that this be "suppressed". We call this being grounded. Thus we learn very early to filter out the irrelevant or categorize it into fantasy - imaginary friends, etc.

Last week I met with a group of great folks. Young PhD students. Two were artists and one was an English teacher. One artist was there to read our palms. She asked the other artist if she had a hard time staying inside her body. The girl replied, "yes".

What a sweet girl. Not physical, deeply emotive, her eyes and face resembled "ET" from Close Encounters.

I discerned her to be one of the first indigoes. She was a out 28 years old. She was what Nancy would have called an "interstellar".
she leaves her body as often as she stays in it. Yoga and art grounds her.

Some autistics may have a similar challenge. They cannot put the filters on like most of us have. Yet, their reality is both u ique and real.
Autism may be the result

[DonMagee]

When I have taught kids judo classes, I've relied on teaching though 75% games, 15% technique and 10 % positional sparing.

I select games that work the techniques I want to work on. Pinning games, Kind of the hill (mat pile), monster in the middle, etc.

Normally it goes like this, we warm up (lots of fun exercises and break falls) This means running, bear crawls, worming (shrimp crawls), etc. Then we stretch. Now I introduce new techniques and we drill for around 10 minutes. Then we play games based off that technique, finally we do positional sparing and I correct techniques.

My bjj instructor teaches toddlers. He only has 30 minute classes for them. He has them do a lot of body movement games to enforce good movement. Lots of competitive racing and praise to everybody. He teaches a few techniques (no submissions that I'm aware of), but doesn't really go in depth (demo side control, move them a little, give some praise) and he has them do positional sparing (who can get on top, etc). Finally he has them jump into a big foam pit while calling out the name of a bjj technique. This really helps them have fun and learn the names of stuff. Everything is a game, or a race, etc. The kids have great fun, learn some basics, and learn how to follow instructions.

[Misogi-no-Gyo]

Children... huh... well... huh...

If you are forced to teach a children's class, and lets face it, that is the only real reason to teach a children's aikido class... (allow time for dissenting opinions...)

1. Don't teach children, lead them. (my thoughts)

If that doesn't fit your teaching model, you can try out the one my senpai gave to me many years ago. He said, "...when it comes to teaching, treat children like adults and treat adults like children."

This has worked for me, both on the mat and off the mat ever since.

Thanks George-San

.

[lbb]

But I'd recommend Gaku Homma's book on Aikido for kids. I've forgotten the title. I'm sure you can look it up.

This book contains a fair bit of malarkey re: the inherent saintliness and nonviolence of aikido vs. the inherent aggression and violence of every other martial art. If you already drank the kool-ade and thought it tasted great, this book might provide excellent guidance.

[d2l]

I see the title of the thread changed. :) Well, I gave 4 kids (all 10 years old) a shot. I figured I'd try 4 to see how I could handle them. We did mostly redirection techniques from punches, kicks, and take downs. They were paired up, and then towards the end, I let them practice on me. I tried making it fun and interesting. I think the thing that shocked them them most, was when I let them practice on me. I think they thought, "Oh no! He's too big!" But I think they were pleasantly surprised when it was shown that they could take someone like me and learn to keep away and learn that they could basically use me against ME. I tried to instill in them that as much as their bodies could be weapons, so could the other persons body be made into a weapon. I explained to them that they are not going to be like Jet Li or Jackie Chan. They are not going to beat up the whole world, nor are they invincible. I also put it very bluntly, that if my Sensai or myself hears that they are trying to beat up on other kids, from their parents, we will not train them. My Sensai has a long practice of teaching kids, and I do not of course. But he let me take a little from him and let me put in a little. As much fun as they had, I think it's safe to say I had fun too. :)

[Bryan]

Techniques that involve joint locking or manipulation can be damaging to small children. Their skeletal structure is still growing, the growth plates have not ossified and trauma can cause abnormal growth patterns which may not show up as injuries until the child has matured. Because kids are so flexible and resiliant, you may never realize that you have caused trauma to the joint structure.

If I work with kids, whether it is TKD, Hapkido, or Aikido, I am extremely careful, and soft, with any joint manipulations.

[Dathan Camacho]

When I have taught kids judo classes, I've relied on teaching though 75% games, 15% technique and 10 % positional sparing.

I select games that work the techniques I want to work on. Pinning games, Kind of the hill (mat pile), monster in the middle, etc.

Normally it goes like this, we warm up (lots of fun exercises and break falls) This means running, bear crawls, worming (shrimp crawls), etc. Then we stretch. Now I introduce new techniques and we drill for around 10 minutes. Then we play games based off that technique, finally we do positional sparing and I correct techniques.


I believe this is a very good approach. My kid's instructor uses this approach and they're very excited to go to class and they don't view it as work.

I suspect kids are often in the class because their parents want them there (guilty :o ) whereas the kids might prefer to be playing Nintendo - until they find out the class is fun! :D

"...when it comes to teaching, treat children like adults and treat adults like children."

This makes sense. Kids are suprised when people take them seriously, i.e. listen to their opinions and talk to them as equals. You can show them you're on their side quickly with this approach. That said, I think you have to be a lot more animated and up-beat with kids than with adults, provided it's earnest and doesn't come across as fake.

Also get down on their level for initial introductions or when they're trying to tell you something. I.e. if you're being introduced to a 6 year old, or need to get them to listen to you, drop down to seiza so that your heads are the same height.

[philipsmith]

Dont know whether this may help but I teach a childrens class (up to 20 kids) and have trained continuously since I was 9 years old.

1 Get some mats!! You can throw them a whole lot harder and faster.

2 make it a mix of fun and hard work. Even small children (the youngest I teach is 6) respond well to discipline but also come to have fun. I tend to reward good behaviour with games (all of which have some Aikido bias)

3 Do not apply locks or joint manipulations. As a qualified physical therapist (and from personal experience) this can and will cause joint damage in later life.

4 Get some mats!!