I was bullied quite a bit in school, now my boys are starting school and I have them enrolled in BJJ, and the first time my kids comes home upset because someone was picking on him I'll tell him to put that kid in guard and don't let go until the teachers physical remove him.
What age did you start them with BJJ? I've been considering for my 4 year old but not sure if that's too early. It seems too early to tell him to punch the bully in the face (what I did as a kid) but I like the idea of equipping him with the ability to subdue a bully until an adult can take control.
So the gym I train at (they grabbed me after I saw my kids doing it) has a rule that they need to be at least 3 and potty trained, so our youngest started a little bit ago and is more working on the skill of listening and paying attention than some of the techniques but my 5 yo is learning some good stuff and is soon going to move from the young children's class to the youth class where the emphasis moves from holding still and paying attention to actual BJJ.
So I'd say 4 is a good age to start, if you need to find a good gym I'd recommend going over to old.reddit.com/r/bjj and asking for advice on there, you'll probably get some good advice.
Also it makes wrestling with the kids way more fun when they try and practice their BJJ at the same time.
Great thanks for the feedback and resources! This led me down a path to discover we have a dojo in our neighborhood I was unaware of and they have an age 3-5 class. Just in time for winter break too! Thanks again- I would have just assumed he was too young for BJJ but this is pretty exciting actually. I probably won't do it myself but he can practice on me at home :)
