I enrolled my 7 year old son in BJJ nearly a year ago and it was one of the best things I've ever done as a parent. He was meek and shy, and I was worried he'd get bullied. I spend a lot of time with him outdoors outdoors (camping, shooting, hunting) but it's hard to get your kids to engage socially with their peers. You cant really teach confidence.

BJJ made the competitive spirit came alive in him and it has totally transformed him, almost from day 1. The first time someone took him down his eyes lit up and was all about it.

For those of you that are unaware, grappling sports are not like the karate or taekwondo you did in a strip mall as a kid. Because the risk of injury is so low in grappling, they full contact spar against each other as young as 3 years old. Boys compete against girls up until they are 11-12, and some of the girls are phuckin animals on the mat. Enroll your daughters, too boyos.

It teaches so many great life lessons like how to lose with dignity, how to face your fears, learning that working harder than others will make you more successful than others, etc. Not the least of it, it teaches functional self defense and how to not panic when you are being attacked.

If they like it, encourage them to compete as well. That is where the rubber really meets the road. My boy has been doing very well in local tournaments but finally got smashed hard at the last one (the kids dad is an MMA fighter FFS). It was shocking to him, and he cried like I havent seen him cry. He was crushed to lose like that in front of his family and friends. But, he still had to shake it off and get back out to fight for silver - which he did and won.

He has so much confidence now, it's like he is a different kid. He used to be nervous to make new friends and now that is the first thing he does on the playground. He was hesitant to try sports before and now they are his passion - swimming, flag football, biking, among others. He even competed in a kids triathlon recently. Kid's a beast.

He has tried folkstyle wrestling as well as judo (all of them compliment each other well) but he prefers BJJ because he likes both gi and no gi. Judo can be tough because there are a number of "mcdojo's" out there, but if their gym competes they are more than likely legit.

My parents never signed me up for sports or supported me when I showed interest in them. I haven't missed a single practice or tournament with my boy, which I plan to keep up as long as he's interested. I'm even thinking about starting to train myself.

Cliffs: Sign your kids up for a grappling sport. Watching your kid fight other kids is prime entertainment, and they learn lots of life skills along the way.

Ya srs. Builds confidence that permeates everything they do.

football is the best sport for development of a child

basketball too but wont make your kid as strong but they'll be faster and more athletic


anti-incel protection guaranteed

is that new way marketing ploy for lgbt crowd ?


jk. wrastler 5yrs myself, grind is best part,you learn work harder than anyone else in room.

He has his own suppressed .22lr rifle (ded fkn serious). It stays locked in my safe though.Eh. I played football starting in middle school and I'm not going to put him in contact ball until he is at least 14. The evidence about brain damage in kids is overwhelming at this point.https://concussionfoundation.org/pro...ll-stars-agree

clifs: Mike Ditka, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, among others say to wait.

hugging other males? sounds ****gy as fuk. no thanks jeff

Boys fight the girls at that age. Brb tossling around with HBBs

I started playing tackle football and doing competitive wrestling when I was 8 years old and it changed me. I grew up hunting and doing outdoorsy stuff before that but it was nothing compared to wrestling and football. They teach you a bunch of life lessons real quick. When my son gets a little older I'd like to put him in wrestling but there isn't any around here. Tons of BJJ gyms though

I think you're right OP. I wish I had done something like that as a kid tbh.

100% in for all the same reasons. My 8 and 6 year old have been on the matts since 4. We supplement a private wrestling coach in for different attacks and defenses and they were also taking Judo but stopped during covid and the gym moved (some old Russian dude)

My kids are trained by a legit Gi world champion under IBJJF. He does not cut them any slack because they are young.

I agree with your synopsis on teh lessons it teaches. Most importantly how to handle yourself with humility and how to make complex split second decisions. More importantly, the immediate consequences of making a bad decision (getting mounted, choked, etc) and how to think about what you did wrong, how to correct in the future, etc. All of these lessons will take you far in life and the business world later.

The only thing I slightly disagree on is the placing of the competition standpoint. For youngsters, my perspective are the ones that win medals are more athletically inclined, more explosive, more "buck wild"

My kids are learning solid technique. And how to use those techniques given what your opponents give you. Due to the nature of competition, often times the more "explosive" person wins. Not necessarily the person with the best technique, as at 6 years old, my kid is still trying to process proper technique and will be a split second behind. The problem becomes when the child relies on athleticism over technique as its a positive feedback mechanism (ie getting a medal). But what happens is the kid concentrating on technique will soon catch up, and then surpass the kid smashing and it will be hard for the less technical kid to catch up.

So I place zero emphasis on winning or losing. I applaud them for using the right technique at the right time, even if it was a split second late and they lose.

IMO wrestling is great, but the way some look at it is that its a hillbilly sport compared to BJJ. BJJ is MUCH more complex than wrestling. Wrestling is technical as well, but not near as technical as BJJ so the choices one has to make are exponentially more in BJJ.

my fav part about wrestling is where my football coach made us have a wrestling tournament during pre-season camp and i beat all the legit wrestlers without ever having been taught anything.

100% no point to contact until highschool or later other then the fun factor. IF there interested get them into flag football and learn the actual skills minus the tackling

I assume you were in high school. Your friends either have a chit wrestling coach or they werent doing the matches by weight. No way an untrained kid beats a trained kid in high school. Maybe in elementary but i dont see a football coach making kids do that at that age.

I'm just going to give mine a gun.

I feel like I need to do this as an adult lol

100% srs man... this was my junior year of HS. weight classes were ranged...beat some dudes who were heavier than me and some that were lighter. i was 6'1 170 ish. granted, they werent superb wrestlers and i was faster/stronger. Will say, we had a kid who was state level good but he only weighed 103. i didnt wrestle him.

I don't disagree with any of that. Wrestling is a battle of strength, stamina and will power while BJJ is more of a chess match. Different strokes for different folks. I didn't need disciple as a small kid I needed aggression and wrestling was better at teaching me that. My son is completely different from me though so he'd probably benefit more from BJJ since he hopped out of the womb ready to throw hands

I have a 2 year old daughter. Would never put her in bjj to wrestle with boys lol. Seems a strange parenting decision for a girl.

I think best for girl is like gymnastics or soccer

mirin
then after he's too old for that, its a good gateway into lifting

he'll have easy confidence touching girls, from all his experience wrestling with them.
Probably transition into some stand up thing for self defence though

Unfortunately my son seems to think tickling feet and farting on people count as sub attempts.

Gonna try Muay Thai since he insists kicking is his best moves despite it ending poorly every single time he has tried to kick anyone other then his little brother.

Glass is half empty kinda dude huh? Guess what bro? If you knew how to read, I said "I supplement their BJJ with private wrestling coaching to learn different attacks and defenses." Where did I say they compete in wrestling?

And if you read my post about humility, they would be a caveman like your kid and be picking fights in high school. Notice how I said the skills translate to life and business.....not high school wrestling competition. But i digress since you have the IQ your typicaly insta sloot.

Agreed, battle of strength and will power vs brain power. Hillbilly stuff vs non hillbilly stuff jk

Your analysis in your previous post you state there are a ton of BJJ gyms and not many wrestling gyms as you were looking to put him in wrestling. Sounds like maybe you have a good path then which helps your son!

Totally agreed, i will make my son (hopefully)/daughter train wrestling/grappling/BJJ as young as possible

my father and my older brother enrolled me in boxing since I was 9 years old and I never looked back. Even tho I would prefer grappling sports now due to lower rate of injury/and especially head trauma, getting your kids into combat sports at a young age, is the best thing you can offer to them, discipline and confidence-wise.

8-12 year old girls on the matt are some of the best in our gym. 2 of which are Pan Am champs in their weight division.
At earlier ages, they dont even think about "sex". Later down the path some gyms have a "girls only" class.......but frankly you arent thinking about sexual chit when you are trying to rip each other apart.

I feel you on the competition angle. My sons game is extremely aggressive - which shocked all of us because he is not like that at all in day to day life. It does give him an advantage, particularly because he's been successful so his coaches put him in the older kids group (he's the youngest and smallest in that group by a large margin). So, the only time he fights in his weight class/age is during competition. I dont know if that is the best way to do it, but I figure his coaches (IBFJJ BB's who trained under some big names) know better than I do. He's competed in grey as a white belt also, which helps. IMO rolling with bigger kids all the time has made him focus too much on his guard, but I suppose that isn't the worst thing.

Competition did help him put together some concepts though. It is a big motivator.

Totally agreed on the praise regardless of winning or losing. I'm just proud of him for trying and doing his best.

If you only train those with no boxing, you're getting KO'd about 75% of the time.

the thing about wrestling is that you cant do it half assed/recreationally. its such a grueling sport and competition based, so you have to really enjoy putting yourself through so much punishment to win. an hour of wrestling practice (no such thing, always longer) is more physically taxing than an hour of bjj class. bjj can be done by all levels; it's very technical but you can flow as you go, so you dont have to go 100% and dont have to compete.

nonetheless, i agree that kids should be doing some sort of grappling sport. the boost to self esteem alone is worth it

Both of mine have been on a jujitsu mat since 7 or 8. Its great for kids. Confidence, self defense, social skills, hits all the buttons. We've got a new grey belt in the house this weekend.
I want mine to be able to do math in his head in his 40s.
All kids classes are typically coed, its 100% to the girls advantage unitl 12 or so, they are stronger across the boar until hormones kick.

Same page bro. My kid's gyms puts the kids against all different situations. Bigger kids, less technical. Older kids, younger kids higher belts, etc. That gives them multiple angles and looks. I put my kids in comps too.....I just dont put much emphasis on winning or losing. More about decisions that were made. We review those on the car ride to and from practice and comps to talk through what was good and what was a mistake.

I was at a gym that concentrated on top game. They were big in wrestling too. What i found is that their guard was weak......because they rarely found themselves on bottom. Since moving my kids to a more well rounded and technical gym, their attack from guard (which was non existent previous) has opened up tremendously. My 6 year old has an active spider guard, knows when to use DLR, can go sweep or triangle from open guard etc. Something they never trained at the more "smash and pass" style gym. Just something to think about.