For reasons that escape me I am often rung up by parents enquiring whether I could look after their children for a couple of hours while they do whatever it is they do when they have offloaded their offspring on some unsuspecting dupe. Ostensibly they claim that they would like me to teach their 5,6,7 year old martial arts but of course this is a ridiculous idea, especially in the coddled west where these children can barely walk up the stairs without losing their breath and the only hardship they have ever faced is missing an episode of spiderman.
In this age of unruly and discourteous youth the claim that Martial Arts practise teaches respect that I often see in advertisements has a specific resonance amongst parents who have little or no control of their progeny. Thus you witness the spectacle of thousands of children around the country being sent to places of juvenile correction to be beaten into shape by these glorified childminders. Of course the rewards for their efforts is a coveted belt awarded without fail at the regular gradings that they must attend. Can there be a more ridiculous site than a 6 year old black belt who can perform various routines most balletically but couldn't punch his way out of a paper bag.
I don't teach respect, I don't teach discipline I teach Martial Arts. People are either respectful of what they are being taught or they don't learn anything and quickly leave because they can't do the stuff and get hurt. People must discipline themselves to train and practise because to succeed most of the training must be done on your own and not with someone breathing down your neck making you train harder. People with no self discipline also fail because they don't practise or train and so can't do the stuff and get hurt.
Most Martial Arts classes are glorified circuit training classes where very little instruction actually goes on. In this environment it is easy to run a "class" for children. Proper instruction requires individual attention to the student and plenty of partner work. The class environment is where you have the opportunity to practise with other people and should not be wasted just doing stretching and fitness exercises. But then the classes would have to be much smaller and last longer than an hour which does not make good economic sense for the professional instructor.