One of the major markets for martial arts instruction these days is kids. Within the combat sports of BJJ, boxing, judo, Muay Thai, and wrestling there are some great examples of kids being trained to their full potential. But the same can’t be said for the majority of the mainstream martial arts centres, dojos, etc. that cater to children and families.

I wouldn’t be the first person to observe that many martial arts facilities are little more than creches, though they may purport to instill discipline, physical fitness, self-confidence, etc.

I’ve never taught children myself in any formal capacity, but I’ve observed a great many children’s classes over the years. The ‘discipline’ that I’ve seen in many of these classes isn’t a discipline that comes from within, through the child being engaged in challenging practices, but rather a pseudo-military environment where the trainer or teacher is barking out commands and the kids, being kids, aren’t particularly listening. In one instance, I saw a couple of kids who had ‘disobeyed’ the instructor in some way, and they were made to sit cross-legged with their hands on their heads like POWs. WTF?

But you know, within these gyms the instructors are vetted by police checks and accredited as being reputable and qualified to teach children.

In another instance I observed, kids were told to spin around looking at the ceiling so they would become disoriented, and then were tapped on the head by the instructor as proof of the effect of a pressure-point strike to a particular area of the head, so as to produce vestibular overload (I’m guessing). In one case, the spinning didn’t have any effect on the kid, nor did the blow. So the instructor hit him harder. Now, f that had happened to my kid and I found out about it, that guy would have been in need of hospital repair.

But many parents don’t know any better. They don’t know the difference between a good training environment and a bad one. If the instructor has a long list of grades, accreditations, and qualifications, then they are going to assume that he knows what he’s doing.

The worst thing I’ve seen recently is the teaching of knife defence to children. Now, I’ve spoken to a couple of close associates who are highly recognized within the martial art field, and when I told them what I’d seen they were as alarmed by it as I was. Because we know that knife awareness/knife defence training is an area where it’s very difficult to teach realistically and responsibly, and where, even with the best instruction, there’s a good chance that anybody finding themselves dealing with a knife is going to end up seriously injured or dead. That’s the harsh reality of the weapon.

If you’ve got kids of your own, just ask one of them to go and get a marker pen and try to mark you up with it. You’ll find out they probably succeed. The knife almost always wins, and any instruction that doesn’t put that reality at the forefront is misleading and dangerous. It’s irresponsible; in fact, in my book teaching knife defence that isn’t respectful of the reality of the knife is as criminal as the guy wielding the knife itself. It’s seriously wrong to give people false confidence.

In the current climate of knife crime and the paranoia that goes with it, there’s an obvious market for knife defence instruction, particularly for kids. But you can’t teach a kid how to deal with a knife. And when you look at a class full of eight year olds playing around with fake knives, it sets an attitude toward the weapon that’s not respectful of how dangerous it is. The knife is not a toy.

When I see this kind of exploitation of people’s fear, this dishing-out of false confidence and ineffective skills, my blood boils. It’s wrong, and it shouldn’t be going on unchecked.

The governing bodies for martial arts in this country are self-appointed, self-accredited, and self-regulated. This means that there’s nobody watching the watchdog. If there was ever to be any legislation regarding the teaching of martial arts, the guys who would get in at the top are the heads of these governing bodies, because these guys are the ones who nominate themselves as experts. But most of them have never had any real hardcore combative experience, inside the gym or out, and they certainly as a rule don’t have the ability to bring the reality of the fight into the training hall in a safe and realistic way. Unlike a good Muay Thai, wrestling, or boxing teacher (for example) most of the big cheeses in the martial arts don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to fighting. Yet they accredit instructors all the time, and the instructors go out and make a career of martial arts.

Some of these so-called instructors, I’ve seen them and I don’t think they have any business teaching anybody. And if I heard that one of these characters was in my area at the local school, trying to drum up business, I’d be down there. I’m not happy with what I’m seeing, and it’s happening all over the place.

Anybody who can pass a police check, take a St. John’s ambulance course, buy some insurance, and collect some dan grades (sometimes even through the post, apparently) can open a school and teach kids. Adults are vulnerable to exploitation, sure, but kids are even more vulnerable. Parents drop them off and leave them, as if martial arts is just another fun activity.

But when you’re talking about self-protection, and particularly with regards to the knife, you’re talking serious shit. Anybody who’s teaching knife has a responsibility to really get their act together and not just make it up as they go along and hope for the best.

I’ve seen kids engaged in the silat/arnis systems of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. These kids are training in a martial art environment that is genuine. They’re not playing around. They’re engaged in practices which are a part of their culture and which remain connected to the fight. They’re not playing silly games in the training hall, and the training hall itself is not a variation on a creche, intended so their parents can have a break—it’s a real training environment where the adults are setting a high example. The instructor is focused. He knows what he’s doing. So, for the kids, it’s serious business. That’s why they develop so rapidly and show such a high level of skill at a young age.

People talk about raising the standards in martial arts, but this is usually just rhetoric. In fact, it's double-speak. High level instructors claim to teach self-defence but they’ve never had a fight of any consequence on the street. They talk about physical fitness and health, but a lot of the ones I’ve seen are broken-down physically. And we’re not talking about some wizened 80 year old master, we’re talking about some guy in his 40s or 50s who should still be well able to perform.

The reality check in an unarmed streetfight is that you might get beat up. It’s a hard lesson to learn. But for kid who’s been taught knife defence by an instructor he or she trusts, then we can only hope that that kid is never unlucky enough to have to rely on that instruction. As an instructor, you might want to be able to equip that kid to deal with a knife, but are you really sure you know what you’re doing?

From what I’ve seen, most of you don’t know the first thing about teaching knife to an adult, let alone to a kid. So don’t even go there.