I’m considering signing my six year old up for martial arts class, but I’m not sure which one to choose. To be clear, it’s not because we’re dealing with a bullying situation or anything like that. It’s more about starting a new physical activity, but I do want my kid to get some self-defense skills out of it. Our local options appear to be Taekwondo, Kung-fu, and Jiu-Jitsu/MMA. I did Taekwondo when I was a kid and it was fine, but I’m not sure that it’s practical for self defense. Jiu-Jitsu/MMA seems very practical for self-defense, but the studios that offer it seem a little bit too blue-lives-matter for my liking. As for Kung-fu, I just know nothing about it.
How did you decide on a martial art for your kids?
The mma part of the jiu-jitsu gives me pause but traditional jiu-jitsu has the most ways of dealing with a fall of any martial art I have experience with and of the three its the one that is most useful in an altercation where you do not want to hurt your opponent which I feel is a more common occurence than fighting for your life. Only advantage I could see with taekwondo and kung-fu is its likely better excersise and may have an advantage if fending off multiple opponents but thats debatable.
TKD is great for self defense if your attackers can be scared off by doing many jumping spinning kicks. Or I guess if you can land the first one that’d work too. After that you’re kinda screwed.