fatherverse

The attitude of the teacher and other students matters more than the martial arts style. You want a fun, positive environment. Sit in on a class or two and talk to the other parents about their experiences. It should quickly become apparent whether you and your 6-year-old will enjoy that particular school or not.

Aikido has been good for mine. It was close and I didn’t like the karate class we tried. Just have to ignore Steven Sagan is a practitioner. You’re right about bjj at least at my gym. Other gyms might be different.

Would Judo be an option? It would be less likely to attract the MMA crowd, and its great for kids

The most important thing is going to be a kind of vibes check. I had a similar question from a friend so I already had this written up:

Good questions to ask:

what are the last 5 injuries that happened to your students and when? And are they still training?- injuries happen but this question should help you know how often they happen and maybe why/ some places might not take care of their people as much

What are all the fees I should expect to pay: monthly? Belt testing? Tournaments? Weapons? Uniform?

Are there any kids around thier age training?- training with friends will help you keep going

How many black belts do you have that train regularly?- this one is a sign of a health dojo because getting a black belt is really just the first step, honestly after black is where all the cool stuff starts happening

Also most places will allow you a free class or two or at least to watch.

For my recommendation, which has 19 years of bias within karate. (I know super bias) Taekwondo- it would not be my first recommendation. In the US tends to be much more fitness and sport than art. You find a good Korean who knows their stuff, great… most that I’ve seen are white dudes walking around as 10th degrees in their 30s for some reason.

Jujitsu/mma- I would generally advise against it mostly due to the types of meatheads it attracts. Not saying it’s bad, but it’s not my preference or recommendation. Also super easy for said meatheads to give your arm/knee some extra juice and now you are dealing with a sprain or worse. (Our saying was 2 most dangerous students were white belts and black belts but for very different reasons)

Kung fu- I have a lot of respect for the art and style that I’ve seen in a lot of kung fu schools and even trained in tai chi myself for some time. The art as well as the self defense are strong. I would recommend kung fu the most of these 3 schools in your area just by style alone.

All that said it depends on if the school itself is good and if your kid is going to have fun and keep up with it. Also considering you trained as a kid, you might want to pick it back up with your kid. There are very few activities that you and your kid could start together. I saw it many times families of different ages starting at white and going to black. It’s a unique opportunity that doesn’t happen in a lot of other things, soccer, baseball etc.