5-year-old kids practicing Aikido

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this. Anyway, this is so cute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFsLbrBd0RQ

It is cute and also very important.

One of the greatest skill-set imparted from learning judo/aikido is how to fall properly. I can never stress enough how important is to learn how to fall properly.

Boon.

After watching the video, first thing that comes to my mind is a seinfeld episode where kramer beats up little kids in karate class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk1GZhI_B4A

I love watching kids do Aikido. We also start them at 5 years old at our school also. It is amazing what they can pick up, plus most of our 5 years olds could shikko circles around any of the adults! Ah to be young!

Okay, now I really need to get some of the video of my kids uploaded.

We have two videos of our kids program here - one entry level program and one for the more committed (traditionally speaking) practitioners:

http://www.senshincenter.com/pages/vids/version1.html

http://www.senshincenter.com/pages/vids/version2.html

In the first program, kids can start as young as one years old - whenever they are into playing. All ages are a go. For the second program, there's no real age minimum, but three years old has been the youngest age we've gotten so far. The youngest in the video of the second program are four, but they both started at three years old.

dmv

The videos from Senshin Center are really interesting. I've seen kids classes and demonstrations a lot. but usually it's one instructor and 10-15 kids. A lot of the time practice consists of the blind leading the blind. I often thought that aikido just wasn't something you could really get until you're older. but maybe what I have seen is mostly a result of teaching kids in the same why that one teaches adults. I have a feeling that in america it's still too early for there to be people who have continued to practice since they were small, but it will be interesting to see in the future.

David Valadez wrote: We have two videos of our kids program here - one entry level program and one for the more committed (traditionally speaking) practitioners: http://www.senshincenter.com/pages/vids/version1.html http://www.senshincenter.com/pages/vids/version2.html In the first program, kids can start as young as one years old - whenever they are into playing. All ages are a go. For the second program, there's no real age minimum, but three years old has been the youngest age we've gotten so far. The youngest in the video of the second program are four, but they both started at three years old. dmv

I definitely like how you did this. I just don't see how it would be possible to teach kids without basically going one-to-one with adults who can teach them.

I wish I had started aikido when I was that young. I'm glad there are dojos out there that really do a good job of teaching children aikido; all too often childrens classes at dojos scream low quality money factories.

Great to see this! We're a brand new club and just started classes a couple of weeks ago. I'm very interested in learning more about successful teaching and training methods for kids in aikido.

My son, Max (little kid in the white gi), is 3-years-old. He's taking karate and aikido - each for two hours per week. He's already started doing some jo work with his own mini-jo. He's essentially been training aikido - at least in some form - since birth. From being spun in the air to being pinned - his equilibrium and body are already tuned for training. And from about the age of two he's been able to apply a mean little kotegaeshi.

I'm not doing this to be a babysitter, and I'm not doing it for money. I'm facinated by the implications of the possible longterm development of children within aikido.

Here's a few pics from the very first week of Kids Aikido at our club, October 2007.

http://www.strandaikido.com/kids.htm


Kids Aikido in Seza (sitting)


Kids Aikido Rei (bowing) to show respect


Sensei demonstrates Kokyo Ho (breath power)


Kids start flying


Kids being kids

For me, I think I started with what I wanted to do and what I did not want to do. I did not begin by looking at what anyone else was doing, nor did I begin with what I thought I could do. From what I wanted and what I did not want, I then looked to work to make that happen. Of course, there were delays, and a whole lot of adaptations, but I refused to let myself venture into what I thought possible and/or what I've seen other folks doing (i.e. what I thought possible). That said, I knew I did not want to be a babysitter, I knew I did not want to have "little ninja" sleepovers, etc., I did not want to cater to the viewing parents, etc. I wanted to run a traditional dojo, one that would offer, for those kids that wanted it, that experience. As things have turned out now, I can honestly say that I teach the kids in our second program in a way more in line with my own kenshusei studies. In that light, my adult program is still a great distance away from that type of training (i.e. still relatively softened for us moderns).

Sometimes we have adults for all the kids in the advanced kids program, sometimes we don't, sometimes it's just me. At this point in their training, none of that matters. We all still work like you saw in the video - please note how little talking and/or verbal instruction is occurring. We don't really use adults in the advanced program to teach the kids. Instead, adults serve the same role as senpai would in any traditional training program. Any child that needs more than a traditional senpai to practice, or any child that cannot handle a one to ten child to instructor ratio (when or if that does occur) is not allowed in our advanced kids program. That kind of stuff, those kinds of character kinks, are the topics of instruction in the entry-level program - not the advanced program. In other words, that is probably more relative to the type of training one can see in the second video, vs. the number of adult-to-student ratio.

Therefore, this would be my suggestion: If you want to teach kids real Aikido, giving them a real Aikido experience (here "real" is meant to stand in contrast to "baby-sitting"), have an entry-level program where you work out the character issues that get in the way of anyone (no matter what age) from studying Aikido at the higher levels of investment/return. This makes everyone happy, as everyone can be on the same page regarding one's own expectations.

thanks for the replies,
dmv

On a side note David, everytime I look at your dojo symbol I can't help but think "klingon Aikido" as the two symbols are very similar.

Also, the dojo search here says you're on Hollister in Goleta but your profile says you're on Mason St in Santa Barbara. Just a heads up.

Oh good- It wasn't just me thinking it looked Klingon!

I spent WAY too much time watching Star Trek.

Shannon

Erik Jacobson wrote: On a side note David, everytime I look at your dojo symbol I can't help but think "klingon Aikido" as the two symbols are very similar.

lol. I like those klingon triangle shapes better though. Way cool. ;-)

Yeah - we are on mason. Hollister was our old location. Just haven't had time to go back and update that. Thanks for the notice. Our site is pretty accurate as well - there's a link to it in my signature below.

Take care,
dmv