Why is it so hard to find a Karate class for 3 year olds in Minneapolis? Why is it so hard to find a Tae Kwon Do class for 3 year olds in St Paul? Why is it so hard to find any Kids Martial Arts classes that actually teach Martial Arts to 3 year olds?
Most Martial Arts studios do not offer classes for 3 year olds for a number of reasons:
1. Mental Development
The first reason why a lot of schools do not teach Martial Arts to little kids is because they are not mentally ready to learn Martial Arts. It is hard to teach a child Martial Arts when they can not tell the left side of their body from the right side of their body. Instructors often find themselves saying, “Kick with the other leg,” “Punch with the other hand,” “Switch sides,” which slows down teaching and learning to almost a standstill.
When learning Martial Arts kids also need to be able to memorize their form. Form is a choreographed set of movements used to practice stances, strikes, and kicks. Kids that are too young to memorize a string of movements get frustrated and sad very easily which is exactly the opposite feelings you should feel when practicing Martial Arts.
2. Babysitting
You may find a Martial Arts studio that says they teach 3 year old kids Martial Arts but in actuality they may be babysitting them in a large padded room for a hefty amount of change. Most Martial Arts instructors have been doing their art a long time and prefer to teach and not to babysit. Don’t get me wrong, instructors love kids, but they also love to teach Martial Arts and it is incredibly difficult to get a 3 year old to do Martial Arts to what the parents are expecting.
3. Socialization
Martial Arts schools usually prefer to accept kids that are mature and socialized enough to handle themselves in a group. If you have ever seen a large group of 3 year olds in large empty room filled with pads they act like a colony of busy, busy bees. It is very hard to get a group of 3 year olds to focus let alone practice for an hour on various specific tasks learning Martial Arts.
Those are the three reasons that come to mind when reasoning why there aren’t many 3 year old Martial Arts classes. Here at Kuk Sool Won of St Paul we start considering children at 4 years old if they are mature enough, and we accept every child 5 years old and up.
If you are thinking about putting your kids in Martial Arts we recommend you wait till they are four and you should visit our previous post 3 Reasons Why Your Kid Should be in Martial Arts
If you have a child in the Twin Cities area that you think should be in Martial Arts send us an email at stpaulksw@gmail.com and we will get them going!
