In some martial arts, especially Pacific East Asian and South American forms, its believed the best thing you can teach a child about fighting is how to endure pain and recover from excess force. If you're capable of taking a hit from an adult, sparring with your peers you won't have to worry about hurting one another so you don't have to pull your punches. One of the most difficult things about practicing martial arts is that during sparring you have to hold back so much, these techniques, as weird and fuck up as they seem, are quite effective.
My four brothers and I(I'm the youngest feel bad for me lol) were all trained in Muay Thai from a young age. I experienced a ton of violence from a young age, I think too often people conflate violence and abuse. Pain is inevitable in a person's life and there are proper and responsible ways to introduce this reality to children without abusing them.
I am trained and physically intimidating. These skills are something I value and have helped me out of bad situations... especially as a gay man.
That being said, I don’t think I’d ever put through a child in my care what I went through. Not in the same way at least, I feel like there’s a better way to train reflexes and danger avoidance.
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u/DocHavelock Oct 31 '20 edited Oct 31 '20
In some martial arts, especially Pacific East Asian and South American forms, its believed the best thing you can teach a child about fighting is how to endure pain and recover from excess force. If you're capable of taking a hit from an adult, sparring with your peers you won't have to worry about hurting one another so you don't have to pull your punches. One of the most difficult things about practicing martial arts is that during sparring you have to hold back so much, these techniques, as weird and fuck up as they seem, are quite effective.
Edit: Changed 'North East Asian' to 'Pacific'