I took plenty of martial-arts as a youth and have drawn some conclusions about my faves. I believe the best self-defense skills for your children depend on their age and personality above everything else and may be extremely simple to figure out. I took taekwondo, ninjitsu, muay thai and karate. I attempted some other forms but these were the ones I put the most time in.

I suspect for a young kid that taekwondo is the best. It can be hardcore at times but most of it really is form orientated and extremely light on contact. The college I went to would target doing forms and acting out eventualities with prescribed moves and then only have a sliver of time at the end dedicated to sparring.

If your kid is a tiny older and looking for fitness I suggest muay thai. This martial art is works on fitness in a selection of ways. And in my eyes this is the best martial art in the world. The elbows and knees are extraordinarily effective if used correctly….

I believe if you’ve got a more creative kid or one that simply loves ninja lore or history then ninjitsu is the correct choice. It might definitely be straightforward to determine if your kid is interested… For me it was actually the Ninja Turtles product littering my room. To me ninjitsu is the most fascinating martial art. The costumes look good and all of it is soaked in mythology. Ninjas were also very efficient in self-defense skills and their style is extremely unique yet still one of the strongest in existence. This was my fave martial art but I only endorse it for kids age 12 and up. Kung fu skills are a good way for a kid to learn discipline, propriety and coordination. Self defense is not such an awful benefit either… And to me the 3 martial humanities mentioned above stand head and shoulders above all of the alternatives so although 2 of them are far more exotic doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look into them. You could be confounded.