Via Drudge: Ultimate Fights Expand to Include Kids
8 year-olds learning how to do mixed martial arts? Are they too young? Dr. Laura often advises parents to put children in karate class so they can learn discipline as well as self-defense. What's the difference?
Some questions to ask:
1. What is the chance of children inflicting or suffering serious injury?
2. Is there a moral component to the training? Sufficient adult supervision?
3. Is it teaching bad habits with regards to self-defense? (A claim often made by "reality fighters" with respect to many schools teaching traditional martial arts.)
4. Are 8 year-olds mature enough to learn how to not only defend themselves from other 8 (or 9 or 10) year-olds, but to do serious harm to others? It seems that a child can learn how to protect himself from schoolyard bullies without needing to know how to put a bully in a joint lock or to break noses/bones. In a world of predators and kidnappers, is more serious training necessary? And can an 8 year-old make the necessary distinction as to how much force he should use to repel an attack coming from another 8 year-old, as opposed to an adult?
No comments:
Post a Comment