It really doesn’t matter what martial art you take up, all will teach you something valuable and any true art will be able to work with you no matter what your physical stature or limitations.

The most important thing is not the style/discipline, it’s finding an instructor/s you trust, a group of students you actually look forward to training with, and a program that fits within your financial and schedule limitations.

Check out the schools in your are – irrespective of the style. Talk with the instructor/s and students. Check out a few classes. You’ll know which one is right for you.

If there are none in your area at all, you may want to consider self-derfense classes and concepts instead, especially for younger kids. Such simple things as developing codes that let them know a stranger is someone you sent, teaching them how to use the phone, how to seek help appropraitely if they get in trouble etc. There are many great organization providing this type of information and advice that would probably be avaialble on-line.

Good Luck !

Ken C
9th Dan HapMoosaKi-Do
8th Dan TaeKwon-Do
7th Dan YongChul-Do

The real question isn’t what style. For the record TKD isn’t a style for s.d. it is a flashy sport, at best. Learning a martial art and leaning self defense are two total different things. Most martial arts of today have 0 effective and real self defense. The best thing I could say would be go to any and all schools available. Watch a class or two, ask to see demo’s of their “self defense” and you decide weather it is what your looking for. In my experience any style that promotes high kicks of anykind **** at self defense. These short weekend or six week classes for women and kids don’t really help much either. the best thing I’d suggest is forget “martial arts” all together if you want to learn to fight or defend yourself. find a group that trains in mma. talk to street fighters, thugs and the “scum of the town, ask them what and how they attack and then experiment on defending agaist that. Martial arts, today isn’t for real self defense it is for kids and people that want to act or think there learning self defense.

Taekwondo. majority wins that taekwondo is a best martial art for self defense for women and kids. I assure you that taekwondo for kids is very much fan and im sure that your kids will enjoy!

ok, this is probably not going to reach you because it is so far down and drowned out by the “take this style” crap.

don’t focus on the style, focus on the training methods bieng realisitic.

meaning if you are doing kata work and not training realisitically- you have better odds of learning to fight by learning to play parcheesi.

(yes, I said fight- that is what self-defence is, only difference is for what purpose these skills are used for).

You will NOT be able to learn online. false training or bad training is worse than having no training.

false and bad training both give you a false confidence that can get you hurt worse.

here is an article about it:

If you aren’t training hard, with full resistance, you aren’t training to learn anything worthwhile.

obviously with kids (depending on age) you are not going to have them strap on sparring gear and go all out- in any case this is not the movies, a 10 year old is not going to be able to do anything against an adult (unless they have a weapon- but i STRONGLY RECCOMEND AGAINST OPENING THAT CAN OF WORMS with children).

perhaps if you want them to get involved early start them with more of a grappling style like judo or brazillian jiu jitsu as grappling arts can be practiced at higher intensity with more safety (generally) than striking arts. your kids might also not be mature enough to learn to hit and take a hit.

Please do your family a favor. Find a good school, not a good style.
The quality and frequency of your training will far outweigh the style you train in.
Never sign a contract. Never pay for rank testing.
Observe all the schools in your are. Try free classes. Ask to observe their contact drills and sparring.
Join a clean school with respectful people.

I would say jujitsu because even if you are a small person if you catch someone in a chok or armbar they likely will be caught unless they are abnormally strong. Jujitsu is about technique more than strength.

Any art can be very helpful, don’t try to find a style, find a good teacher.

This is a popular question!… I enrolled my 9 year old in Tae Kwon Do classes nearly a year ago, originally, hopefully, to assist with his ADHD. After watching him train for a few weeks I joined myself (I’m his mum, I’m 55, overweight and not in the best of health)… I was so impressed with the kid friendly self-defense techniques taught at our do-jang I arranged for classes at my son’s school for Kindy to year 2 kids… (years above that have to do specific sports defined by the powers that be unfortunately). The classes were an amazing success… almost half the schools kindy to year 2 kids attend, they love it! My son and I (hubby has now joined too)… often spar in fun at home (carefully… he’s a blue belt now and could do damage without trying!) At 9 years old and a very elegantly built 19 kilos in weight my son can escape from a wrist or arm grab from a strong adult with almost no effort! If he kept his head he could disable an adult quite easily – then RUN… Learning this sport has done wonders for my son’s self-esteem and focus, for my own health and weight-loss, and above all for my peace of mind… He’s not invulnerable (yet), but my little boy is a lot safer than he was a year ago! I’d strongly discourage trying to learn any self defence or martial art from a book or on-line… a qualified teacher is a must… If you can’t find classes in your area I second checking with your local police… they are almost certain to know where you and your family can get reputable self defense training… All the very best with it.

Check with your local police force and community center to see if they have a self defense course that they recommend. Martial arts is not quite the same as self defense now that it’s become a sport. There are excellent combat oriented MAs out there, but they take a while to learn. Best bet is to take a quick and dirty self defense course and if interested start a martial art in addition to it.

You can also check youtube for video demonstrations. Just do a search on “self defense”. See what comes up. You may find an instructional video that works for you.

I have taken Combat Hapkido and found it very easy to learn and extreemly effective. It mostly involves inflicting extreem pain upon your attacker and using their force against them to subdue them very, very quickly. Many of the techniques involve leverage in such a way that they are most effective when utilised by a smaller person against a larger attacker.And, by the way, I learned it from a Tae Quan Do instructor/international champion who insists that TKD is great excersise but next to useless in a real self defence scenario (Please don’t be mad all you tkd-ers! I have no experience with the art, just passing on my teachers advice). Look into Combat Hapkido and see what you think. Also google “Fast Defence” if you want efficacy with a short learning curve- they teach that in several hours in one seminar, and they have classes designed for women and kids. Fast Defence teaches to use adrenaline and fear to your advantage. Good luck and happy butt-kicking!