At what age can I start my son with Judo?

I have a very strong and very active 2 and a half year old. My husband and I would like to start him with a martial art. We live in New York City, and there are a lot of places that teach various kinds of martial arts. While the Karate places starts kids at 2 and half, every Judo place that I%26#039;ve called said that the starting age is 4 or 5. Does that sound right? After some research, we decided that Judo seemed like the best martial art, but we don%26#039;t want to wait until he is 4. Any suggestions? Thanks.|||A child that young isn%26#039;t mentally or physically ready for martial arts. As a parent and martial artist, I wouldn%26#039;t start a two and a half year old in karate either. At two, a child doesn%26#039;t have the attention span and understanding for organized martial arts training, not to mention his body simply isn%26#039;t ready for that kind of activity. I don%26#039;t think the skull is fully fused by that age and serious head trauma is possible if a child fell incorrectly or was struck in the head. And they call it %26quot;terrible twos%26quot; for a reason. A child that age doesn%26#039;t have the ability to adequately control their temper or their physical abilities to the degree that they won%26#039;t hurt themselves or someone else accidently.





When my daughter was two we took her to Gymboree and let her play and learn, and the parents are active in the classes so the kids don%26#039;t get out of hand and hurt each other. The judo dojo is wise for only taking kids over 4 years old.|||Just put him in Karate, put him in Judo when he turns 4.|||2 and a half is very young for judo or infact anything that involves grappling it could be dangerous hell i know a lot of adults that cant do it without causeing injuries to people





i would suggest karate or tae kwon do they will give your child lots of fitness and moving around if you really want them to doa grppling thing then take him to karate or tkd and when he is old enough take him out and start him at judo or what ever|||2 1/2 is way too young in my personal opinion. Even 4-5 sounds a little odd. Martial arts are incredible but is sounds like your looking more for a %26quot;sport%26quot;. What%26#039;s wrong with Soccer? He automatically makes like 8-12 friends and he%26#039;s probably going to like it more anyway. People don%26#039;t flip you. I%26#039;m not in judo though, I could be mistaken. Again, It%26#039;s just my opinion.|||I don%26#039;t think any kid should start Martial arts till at the very earlyest 5 years old. It%26#039;s not just him grasping The moves themselfs you have to also see if they can handle it. This goes Double with Judo because Judo is practiced almost at fullspeed and sometime at fullspeed and to a kid feels like wrestling with his friends. For a Child it is one of the most fun arts to learn period. But will your child be able to handle not using this stuff on his friends even just for fun(similar to a kid watching ProWrestling and then playing with his buddys and doing a move he saw)You have to make sure you child understands that. My dad started me at 6 but I was a very mature kid. My Little Brother wasn%26#039;t allowed to start till he was 10. So I would say don%26#039;t let your son start till he is 5 or older.