Hi

Looking to get my daughter involved in some kind of self defence, she's 4 years old and will be 5 in November this year.

Just wondering what the options are, we dont want something that will turn her in to an aggressive monster (we have enough problems with her younger sister :-) )....however we want her to be capable of defending herself if she needed to.

I was thinking Karate ...

We live in Preston, so any recommendations of any kind of self defence in the area woud be great.


Thanks


M

Judo.

Popular amongst youngsters inc. girls, not 'aggresssive' and is purely self-defence.

But admittedly, if she were to get mugged later on in life, throwing people about prob. isn't gonna incapacitate them too much.

But that's prob a good thing, seeing as the assailants usually successfully sue their victims, in this potty country...

My 2 (6&9)Started Shotokan Karate about 10 weeks ago and love it. Youngsters struggle with coordination and remembering the moves & kata's but they do pick it up. There are younger children in the class and the adults/higher grades help out and in some cases they get 1-2-1 tuition as required.

My local class offers 4 weeks for free as a taster which is a really good idea.

I would recommend Karate, i have done Judo and Karate in the past and may take up Karate again.

http://prestonshotokan.info/

http://www.prestonshotokandojo.com/

http://www.huttonkarate.co.uk/

http://www.englishkaratefederation.com/

Judo and boxing,i did it well kickboxing that is mixed with judo,most street scraps will involve grappling and punching,its only purely for self protection of course,not saying you should go out and pick a fight..

I'd probably go with the judo first...

May mate, who is huge (tall and large), was (still is?) a kickboxing expert.

He was out of order as he used to get pissed up and look for any excuse to fight. Needless to say he more than often used to totally fvck his 'prey' up.

I've used it a few times in civvy street,can't remember exactly how many,sometimes you have to with the tossers about.Even had one lad punch me full on in the face and i took it and did nothing to him back.Mainly because he was with several buddies and i wasn't about to fight them all,chances are if i'd did something back they would of all joined in.
During training our instructor would sometimes have us fight 3 opponents all at once but it was only really to prepare you for what may happen on the street.

Too young I reckon. Should be playing at that age not training.

What's his problem? I can't stand bullies like that.

Have you ever thought about Tai Chi btw,its very good.

I'd be very wary of a lot of Karate classes as they just rapidly rush you through the gradings whilst learning not a lot at all but giving you the confidence to go looking for a fight.

I have found Ai-Ki-Do and Ju-Jitsu to be much better self defence disciplines. As above, judo would be a good option. I've tried a few different disciplines but I stuck with Ai-Ki-Do.

Another vote for ju-jitsu here, I did a little when I was young.

I've got a 4 year old little boy who will be 5 this year. I have been told not to start any form of martial arts with him until he is 6

Most ********* I see who want to fight usually are from MMA Kickboxing or strangely body builders. I would recomend Jujitsu or Taekwondo as they still have some real world applications but still maintain a moral focus. Wing chun can be good depending on the teacher and I am big fan of boxing but when they get older the stong like between boxing and criminality may well make it an environment that you don't want your kids in. The teacher will always be more important than the art and any that don't progress to some form of sparring are a waste of time.

try bujinkai karate as more defense orientated or a muay thai if you want them to learn a bit of everything.

Wing Chun is amazing. As said, finding a good instructor is near impossible in this country now though.

I'd agree with that. I can't stand MMA and kickboxing etc as it is basically just the worship of strength, it's nihilstic and 'cool' for every knuck-dragger with tatts.

Wasn't that a band in the 80's?

I wouldn't know, I'm not old enough to remember the 80's.....

Yep jiu jitsu/judo is underestimated and mainly always has been,but yet its really one of the most useful martial arts you can learn in real day life.

To the op really with your kid of current age i would try Tai Chi,its excellent it will teach your youngster coordination,movement,breathing,,control,and will help a lot and is non aggressive.

No offense but I remember when I was a kid, the kids who were doing martial arts at an age that young, had Dad's with tatts and crew-cuts and the kids were always trying to act hard. I imagine now they walk about with a dangerous Dog on a massive chain and had no visible occupation.

All depends upon the Dojo, but my kids have really come on in Karate and they are coached that it is for use in defence only. Only in the last week, whilst playing, I've noticed how much of a punch both my kids have - my lad is 11 and the girl is 8. We took them not so much for the self-defence, but the self discipline. We tried Sindo, but after about 2-weeks that proved to be pretty useless

Another vote for Tai-Chi, do some research and you may find its non-stroppy theory would be ideal.

Your mates a **** !!
Hopefully someone will shoot him !
Pr1ck!

I would suggest ju-jitsu .My two children both did it to black belt and neither act like Bruce Lee .My wife did it until 5th Dan and I have never seen her even have an argument with someone,other than me! and even then no aggression is shown.Its good to know they can do it ,but dont need to proove it .

He was a complete hedonist.

Aside from his unfortunate fighting trait, he's actually a nice guy!

It's not that he went looking for it before he went out; just that once drunk, invariably he couldn't help himself. Still totally out of order - you should never take advantage of any potentially lethal skills you may possess (unless your life is genuinely being threatened).

Haven't seen him for about 15 years now - I'm sure he's now a married man, kids, etc. and has got it out of his system by now...

so no technique there at all then?you see i was under the impression that most mma training was wrestling,JIU JITSU and striking so a combination af all martial arts??

ok i was training at that and my dad was balding but had curly hair and no tats???
i never acted hard
i now walk about with a spaniel on a short cord nylon lead oh and i work full time
enough with the generalisations dude!!

oh and back to op, any martial art would be good,personally i would wait a while to start them off,no hurry it may put them off.i say any martial art as its all about the discipline at that age not technique.

oh and before anyone says i am not qualified,i trained for ten years in kung fu reaching my 3rd level master then taught and trained both kids and adults to a high standard so just my 2 penneth
tim

lol exactly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU2-ZDFdjDY

I always thought the group was called Wang Chun?

lol..

you have to watch IP man if you have not already seen it..great film!

At the age of 4 I should have thought that you would do better to protect her and concentrate on bringing her up in the way of thinking of how to behave in decent society and to educate her about the dangers of life in general when she is old enough to understand it.

Les