"At my academy I see a ton of 5,6,7 year olds and they are basically just in a baby sitting class and a cash cow for the gym. This is my personal opinion and others disagree with it. "
Agreed 100% on this. Our son (5) has been in Judo (with a healthy dose of BJJ mixed in) for about a year now. We decided to pull him yesterday when it became obvious that the class is just too out of control. Even with 2 instructors the class is a shit show. The shit show comes from 2 things: parents treating it like a daycare where they get their kids on the matt (if lucky..often times they just send them towards an instructor with gi in hand with the expectation that he/she gets their kid all set) and proceed to BS and screw with their phones until the end of class. The 2nd thing being (my opinion) a few of the kids are just out of control and it feeds into the rest of the class. 10-15 kids, a handful of which are out of control, 2 instructors, disengaged parents (who could help correct their kids if they were watching btw) = shitshow.
To be fair the dojo does the best it can but considering the age group (5/6 year olds) and all the other factors it's a mess. Our son is also done with it and wants to play more soccer etc so that helps.
We're going to start him back up when he hits 7 which is where the next age group starts.
I agree with you - total cash cow for the gym. $500 for 6 months x 10-15 kids...very expensive babysitting.
I will also say it's a complete bummer to watch these kids do some judo, look over to see if their parent is watching (often just the mom) and see that she is just staring at her phone and missed it.
Agreed 100% on this. Our son (5) has been in Judo (with a healthy dose of BJJ mixed in) for about a year now. We decided to pull him yesterday when it became obvious that the class is just too out of control. Even with 2 instructors the class is a shit show. The shit show comes from 2 things: parents treating it like a daycare where they get their kids on the matt (if lucky..often times they just send them towards an instructor with gi in hand with the expectation that he/she gets their kid all set) and proceed to BS and screw with their phones until the end of class. The 2nd thing being (my opinion) a few of the kids are just out of control and it feeds into the rest of the class. 10-15 kids, a handful of which are out of control, 2 instructors, disengaged parents (who could help correct their kids if they were watching btw) = shitshow.
To be fair the dojo does the best it can but considering the age group (5/6 year olds) and all the other factors it's a mess. Our son is also done with it and wants to play more soccer etc so that helps.
We're going to start him back up when he hits 7 which is where the next age group starts.
I agree with you - total cash cow for the gym. $500 for 6 months x 10-15 kids...very expensive babysitting.
I will also say it's a complete bummer to watch these kids do some judo, look over to see if their parent is watching (often just the mom) and see that she is just staring at her phone and missed it.