Would you have your kid start at young age as 3?

Occasionally I have seen a 3-4 year old take to martial arts like a duck to water. I had one student that was age 4 that was that way and several that were 5-6. Those students I only took as a favor or on a temporary trial basis and there was an interview process that I would conduct with them and the parent before making any decision.

I also found through working with that 4 year old that students that young needed their own class which I personally taught. That way I could address their needs better based on their lack of maturity and things like lack of attention to detail and inability to understand varying levels of quality when doing something. To children that young if what they are doing or just did looks the same as what you showed them then it was in their minds even though it really might not have been. So I would first teach them to differentiate quality with things like coloring a picture and staying within the lines.

Kids also emulate and imitate older kids and older siblings as well as parents and want to usually. So I also held out to them the carrot that when they learned enough and showed sufficient progress they could go into the older class. That was also a powerful motivator for them to pay attention and applying themselves more rather than just treating martial arts as a game or play time or having to make it all the time like a game for them.

As for forcing a child I would never do that and I actually had several situations where I refused to teach a child that did not want to be there and/or take the parents money for lessons and attending classes. Martial arts is like gymnastics in that you have to first foster certain things in a child and their thinking to get them to work that hard and apply themselves. Forcing them will not work and anyone that called me or walked into my school knew from the start that my school was not a babysitting service but instead a place with high standards where people came to really learn and train in martial arts. Anyone that came in that was looking for babysitting I would refer to those schools in my area that took that approach leaving me free to focus on those that really wanted to be there and seriously train, even if they were only 5-6 years old.

No.

Although my son did start early too. He was 5 or 6. I can't remember. But normally we do not accept students that young. Of course he could begin because I was there. He was very focused.

The only other times we have allowed students under 8 to join our class is if they had older siblings or parents in the class. This way they had someone to help them out when they are at home and should be practicing what they have been taught.

No, I would not base my decision on age. I would base it on maturity of mind. Children develop at different rates. And just because someone does not have the mental acuity at 3 does not mean they won't do well at 6, 10, or 26.

Furthermore, teaching very young children requires a different approach then for someone older. And not all instructor knows how to do it much less understands this fact.

My son is a year and a half. Once he learned how to walk, he learned how to kick. When we play and he chases me around, I'll sometimes yell "MABU!" and drop into a horse stance. After a little while, he began to do the same. I guess he's already been training for about 8 months...!

no, i would not. kids at this age are naturally active.