Quote:
Originally Posted by godwine
Hello Amnell
I do agree that Aikido is a good art for kids to start. However, Aikido requires a lot of coordination and some understanding to the concept of weight shifting. It is true that, through practice, you build up muscle memory to perform a certain move, but its better to know why and what is happening than just let it happen
I am also worry that for a children so young, their shoulder may not be developed enough (I am no doctor, just purely from experience working with kids) to break a fall. The throw in Aikido is no joke, regardless of who you practice with, the weight to power ration is the same across all ages, so the amount of damage (porportional) a 5 years old can do to a 5 years old is no different from an adult doing it to an adult, a landing is a landing.
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Hm, interesting point.... But wouldn't that preclude Judo, also? I've never studied Judo personally*, but I know there are plenty of throws and falling involved.
So it's starting to look like Karate (or similar) would be the best bet for a small child? That's ignoring the simple fact that there are way more Karate schools that cater to children in the States than any other style. Then, within the Karate 'umbrella', what would be a good one? Karate, American Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, etc? (I would say Kenpo, myself...)
*A bit of exposure to Jujitsu mixed with other styles over the years is about as close as I've come to doing Judo.