Over the last few years training in Ki Aikido (more formally “shin shin touitsu aikido” or 心身統一合氣道 in Japanese) has been a big part of my life, and I’ve already written a handful of articles on this site that talk about that (which you can find linked here). However one important part of the dojos I train in that I have not discussed much is teaching children.
The children’s program of Oregon Ki Society is actually what first drew me to that organization, when I was looking for some way to get my son more physically active and away from computer screens. I had done another type of aikido in the past so trying out aikido made more sense as opposed to some other martial art. And when I stopped by for a free trial class with my son, I was extremely pleased with the dedication of the teachers towards the students.
Soon after I ended up starting training myself in the adult program, and in around five years got my black belt, which allows me to teach. This includes both childrens and adult classes, but since the ratio of experienced teachers to active students is a bit higher in the adult program there are more opportunities to teach children. Also, I started assisting children’s classes when I had my brown belt (around 3 years into my training).
I vividly remember how exhausted I was during (and after) assisting my first children’s class. But after getting some good experience being an assistant and teaching a few classes myself (roughly 10-15 classes at this point), I feel like I have grown significantly as a children’s instructor. In fact now I really enjoy children’s classes, and often find I feel like I have more energy after the class.
While I have little experience compared to some of the upper-level teachers who have decades of training under their belts, I thought it would be nice to get down some thoughts on things I have learned when working with children teaching Ki Aikido. While there is some formal training for teachers and assistants, I feel like the majority of what I have learned has been from experience on the mat, which includes working with children directly and also watching experienced teachers.
First, I wanted to clarify what sorts of age groups I work with. It’s a fairly wide range, starting from around five years old to late teens. How the class goes and what is taught depends on the age groups (and if there is a wide range during one class that is even tricker), but for now I will talk about teaching two groups: the younger kids, and the older kids. There is no hard definition, but a child who is 5 would be in the former group, and an 18 year person would be in the latter.
I’ll begin with the younger kids, which is where much of the challenge comes that I had never experienced in an adult class. My number one priority at all times is safety, and that boils down to a huge dose of common sense, plus some experience about how doing certain techniques wrong can cause injury, although extremely rare. Also it requires having sharp skills of observation to pay attention (basically “extend ki”) to all children and look out to make sure they aren’t doing anything dangerous. One of the risks for this group is simply having two people collide when one (or both) is doing a roll, so we are very careful about how we teach that, and watch out for such collisions.
While safety is definitely first, to me the thing that is truly difficult is trying to keep all the children focused throughout a one-hour class. Young children losing focus is more of the norm than an exception, though some individuals are better at focusing than others. We have an array of different techniques to help keep them motivated and focused, but in general doing group activities (like where everyone does a set of physical actions) makes it easier for them to stay involved. The opposite is having them work in pairs of two, which is typical in adult classes, but in children’s classes this often leads to chaos when young ones are asked to work with a partner. (Teachers and assistance generally go around and watch during pair work, but we can only divide our time so much.)
There are also often sudden questions from children––whether it’s about aikido or something totally unrelated––and learning how to answer those politely without derailing the entire class is a skill in and of itself. Not to mention wardrobe malfunctions (undone belts, etc.) and requests for water or bathroom breaks, which are common.
On the technical side, for example when explaining or correcting a certain technique, especially with younger children we try to keep descriptions short and simple, and always show things visually. In many cases it is possible to help physically guide them through a technique (moving their hand to make the proper motions, etc.), though this is an advanced skill and requires the teacher to really understand the technique themselves. The younger the student, the more there is a focus on broad strokes without getting into endless details.
Working with younger children on the mat is a great way to practice keeping one point, in other words remaining calm and focused. When kids start running around chaotically around the dojo, there is only so much you can do, and it’s important to avoid self-criticism if you didn’t quell the uprising as much (or as quickly) as you liked to.
Now for the latter group, the older kids, teaching them is much more similar to teaching adults (after all, they are nearly adults themselves). Older kids will generally have more focus and ability to refine finer details of techniques, as well as physical endurance. But teaching teens is different from teaching older adults because it’s important to train them hard enough to utilize their endurance without pushing them too hard. Sometimes when there is an odd number of students I will train partially as a student in the advanced children’s class (meaning I act as someone’s partner when doing techniques), and those classes require a huge amount of energy.
The honesty of children means that if the teacher can’t do a technique properly, they may point it out in the middle of everyone. And when working with a child as a pair doing a technique, they don’t necessarily know what is going to happen next so you really have to lead. All of this contributes to why children’s Ki Aikido is an excellent environment to hone oneself as a teacher and a leader, and to practice ki principles.
Of course, one of the most challenging things about teaching children is when your own son or daughter is part of the group. But generally I’ve found that treating my child just like I treat everyone else is the fairest and best thing to do. And there are times when an upper-level teacher sees me correcting a child, and then corrects my correction. But those too are always learning experiences.
Teaching children can be very rewarding, especially when you see a child learn to do an advanced technique, or even just a basic one they have been having trouble with. The relationships you build with the students (and their parents/caregivers as well) is also an important part of being a good teacher.
Finally, if you live in Oregon and are interested in training for yourself or a child, feel free to contact us via the form here.