 A martial arts school is an incredibly tough business to keep open. The majority of new schools will close their doors within the first year of business. Now this could be for various reasons, but one of the main ones is a weak children's program or lack of one. You may only want to teach serious adult students in the full art, but unless you can keep overhead incredibly low, then it's going to be tough to keep the doors open. So if you are going to have a children's program, or even if you're a parent looking for a school for your child, we're going to cover some of the many key differences between a children's karate curriculum versus adults. Now let's be 100% honest here. A children's class is not going to be as in-depth, as rough, or as brutal as an adult class. Now I'm referring to ages 12 or under, so you can't just dump an adult program on them and expect them to stay on par with the adults. So the real primary differences between the adult and children's program is going to be how deep in the material you can get. An adult program can break down a lot of different principles, different material. You can spend a lot of time on a particular item and the application of that. With a kids program, you got to keep it more basic. Most kids are still trying to focus and learn discipline and get the concepts down. So adults, they want the education, they want deep material, they want an application, they want the mechanics. Children, they're there for discipline, focus, balance, guidance, confidence. Now if we're talking young, young children, like five, four, at that point, you're not really teaching them karate. It's really more of a, I don't want to say a daycare, but what you're teaching them is you're teaching them life skills at that point. You're teaching them just what focus is. Just to keep their attention, get them to engage in a particular activity for 45 minutes or even sometimes 30 minutes is challenging enough because at this level, they're soaking up their environment, their minds are racing. So at that level, you're not teaching them application of techniques in terms of self-defense. You're teaching them life skills and focus and just kind of, you're teaching them how to learn is what you're doing at this point. So if you have a young children's program, you have to keep that in mind. You can't just sit down and give them a lecture. Their minds are just not there. You have to get them to focus your basic fundamental skills at this level. Most schools will have two different curriculums, one for adults and one for children. And usually the children's curriculum is an abbreviated version of the adults. So in Kemple, for example, we have 150 to 170 techniques, self-defense techniques anywhere from 10 to 20 per belt. With a child, they're not going to have anywhere near that, not even half. Usually it's like two or three techniques per belt. So as they spend their few years in the school and as they get older, they will eventually transition into the adult curriculum. Now with that transition, some schools have the junior black belt. Other schools have a first degree black belt. There's a big debate and we did a video last year about can kids get a black belt? And that's a whole different topic. So this is not about whether children can earn black belts or not. But I'm just referring to some programs, including many times in Kemple, is there's a junior black belt, which basically just denotes that they have completed the children's curriculum and now they're going to begin their adult curriculum. It is not a first degree black belt. It is not an adult black belt. It is just kind of like they're graduating grade school and now they're going into high school sort of mentality. And it's referred to as the junior black belt. They're made very well aware that it's not a full black belt. So it's an accomplishment and achievement for them to build their confidence on and from there they build on that and they transition to the adult program. Now some of the challenges you're going to face is with adults, they're there for education. They're going to expect details. They're going to ask you questions. I'm not going to ask you simple questions usually. They're going to ask why. They're going to ask breakdowns. They're going to want logic. So you need to be prepared to explain the material to them. Kids in the other hands, they're going to ask more basic stuff. They might ask why, but they're going to ask silly things. They're going to come up with different scenarios. They're going to ask a bunch of what-ifs. So they're tasked with challenges. They keep them focused on what you're doing because if you let them ask enough, they're going to lead you down a tangent. Just kind of keep them reined in, answer their questions, but always rein them back. Adults can be a much slower pace. Again, they're there for an education. So you could spend an entire class on one concept or one technique or one stance and just practice that for the hour or two hours or however long the class is. And you can actually do variations of it. You can sit down. You can talk. You can analyze it with each other. So it's a much slower pace, deeper delve into the material. With a kids class, keep them moving because if not, they're going to get bored. And if they get bored, you're going to start to lose them and they're going to have even harder time focusing. So part of it is you, as their instructor, trying to keep them on task and teaching the focus skills, but also kind of meet them halfway and give them a pace that's going to keep them engaged so they don't get bored that easily. Games are highly effective at teaching concepts to the children. We use them all the time, but you're not going to see games in adult curriculum, not usually. For adults to play, it's basically sparring, an experimental sparring, rolling, and you can maybe weapon techniques, but you're not going to break out pads and like, let's run across the room and let's tap this and let's do the stance. You do that with an adult class and you're going to lose students. So with children, games are an effective way to get points across and keep them engaged and keep them focused and they learn and they're moving. So it's a great workout for them. It also keeps us in mind, an adult chooses your class. They are making the conscious decision to spend money to come to your school to learn what you're teaching. Kids, by contrast, are put in class. They don't always have that choice, whether in an after school program or their parents feel that they need to be in karate or they're there for discipline reasons. You treat an adult like a child, they're going to take their money, they're going to leave or they're going to choose another school because if they're not getting out of what they want, they're gone. And also because of the choosing classes, adults aren't always as consistent as children. Children have a regimen, mom and dad drop them off this time every day, every week, so they're there on a regular basis. Adults, well, how am I going to come home from work? You know, I'm going to be tired tonight. So I'll go to class tomorrow. You're going to run into that a lot. So there's a big difference in who shows up to class and why they're there and it's important to keep that context in mind. Now in teaching, and this kind of goes for both, especially with the kids, but there's a technique that we use called praise, correct praise. And if you're going to correct a student, especially a child on a technique, if they're doing something wrong, maybe they're not chambering their kick or something's quite off, don't go up to them and say, no, that's wrong, you're doing it bad. That's, you know, that does nothing for confidence and that's not really productive. Instead, find something to praise about it. So be like, oh, you got some excellent power, great rotation on that. Then you add your correction. Okay, so that was awesome power, but now let's try to make it a little bit stronger. Try bringing your knee up and get that chamber in there. See how much more power you can generate and have them do it. And if it's even better, then praise them again. So that's it. That's a great job. That's what I'm talking about. Acknowledge what they're doing right, give them the correction that you want them to approve on, then acknowledge your effort for that. It goes a long way with the children. Adults, there's more flexibility there and you're not going to treat an adult like that, but the constant works too. You know, sometimes if they're doing something well, let them know. And if you're going to correct them, that's a smooth way to do it. But don't talk down to any student. Don't embarrass them. Don't try to make an example of them. I've met instructors who tried to show off their own skill by beating up on students in class or they put down students or it was kids, you know, maybe one's goofing off a little bit and they get totally yelled at or totally embarrassed that doesn't necessarily improve behavior that only makes things worse. It breaks down their confidence and you're going to have more of a challenge later with them. So don't treat anyone like they're beneath you or don't look down or talk down to them. If they're an adult, you're going to lose that business. They're going to go. If it's a child, you're going to break down their confidence and that's not what your job as an instructor is. So especially with children, you have to push them to meet their goals. Adults are in class, they know what their goals are, whether it's to lose weight or they want to learn self-defense or it's a lifelong dream they've had to join karate or any martial art. A child is there, they don't always know what their boundaries are yet or what their goals are yet, push them to accomplish something. You want them to kind of find that edge of what their ability is, capability is, and try to push past it. So for children, it's a lot about personal growth, less about fighting, less about defense. So try to find ways to push them to meet their own goals. And just remember, children are freaking sponges. So they can handle a faster-paced class. They can handle a more variety of information because they soak it up and they move on. They might not get the full detail like an adult can, but they can keep up. So guiding through class, have a game plan set, go into class knowing what you're going to do unless you're really good at winging it, but have a plan and kind of guide them on that. They can handle it. And most importantly, with adults or children, be patient. Both groups have different needs. Adults are going to expect deeper information, and because of that, it might take longer to get a technique perfect or stance exactly right. Be patient with them. They're not going to get it overnight. And with children, again, they're still learning focus. They're still learning coordination and balance. You know, there's still some of them young enough are still learning how their hands move. So acknowledge that, be aware of that, tailor your class to that, and be patient with everyone. And you'll find that in the end, everyone is the best for it. So those are some of the main differences between the children's karate curriculum versus adult. Teaching both kids and adults can be rewarding on different levels. At the end of the day, the goal is to help a person become a better version of themselves, whether that means a stronger and better fighter or someone who can focus better and develop a sense of confidence. Thank you so much for watching. Please subscribe, comment, and share this video so that we can bring you more of the content that you want to see.