family and jiu jitsu

I have been training with my kids since i started. Phoenix was 11 and Blake was 9, now phen is 17 and a blue belt, blake is 15. It has kept us close. We spend time together that otherwise we wouldn't have, 10pjj has been the impetus behind many late night conversations that we otherwise wouldn't have had. It has bound our family together in a way that words fail to convey. It has been our anti drug, our sport, our way of life, out tao...for me it is a family thing that will never end.

When we get mad at each other we roll and its all ok, when we are down we roll and we are back up, when life is overwhelming we roll and remember who we are and that we are here for each other in a real way. I hope all of you get to have the oppurtunity to raise your kids on the mat. My favorite rolling partners are my kids, in fact we have an invitation only class that is just me and them, because this is our thing, it is what we do.

I would love to hear of others who have grown up on the mat with your kids and the effects it has had on your relationship?

Beautiful Mike!

thanks Chris:)

I just got back from a gruelling roll with my sister. She is 20-25lbs on the scales but her flexibility is off the charts. Just un-submitable. My forearm is too thick to get between her neck and her shoulder too. I go for the baby back rib, but when I kick my heel up, she just rolls out of my special under hooks and drops into mount. Then I bridge and buck and she just sits in mount and giggles at me. Just mocks my efforts. When she gets bored of that, she slides down my bridge like a slippery slide, gets me in half an arm out triangle (legs to short to close it up), sits on my neck, and taps me by drooling on my face. Its awful. These one year olds are getting serious.

Mikel, I have huge respect for your choice. You are giving your kids the one thing we possibly all want, that we can never go back and get. The chance to be raised in martial arts. You can always decide later it is not for you, but you can never get that foundation if no one gives it to you.

I really do sit my baby sister in mount and bridge. She is a little over a year old, but she already grips with her feet and balances (and giggles). The new game is I present my arm, she grabs it and jumps off, rides the arm to the ground, while I support her with my other arm. She is already swivelling her hips around it. Its not a hard guess who inspired this (RR).

I'm going to put more work into this after reading your post.

That is awesome Tim, and u r right about the foundation thing. I know for a fact that what u r doing with your sister will help her, and help develop a bond between the two of you that is crazy good.

Dont feel bad, the drool technique is unbeatable lol. Great story!

My brother and I played the ufc 2009 game and i got into jiu jitsu and then brought him into it a fw months later. he lives in a different part of the country now but we both roll with each other when we meet up and it definitely has brought us closer together.

I owe a lot of things to jiu jitsu. it really has been a game changer.

I'm 32. My old man is an unstoppable force. Inspired by your post, I lined up a brother. This one is 6. He is pretty cagey with me as I am the terrifying monstrous 6'4" bearded big brother. He has a bit of a problem with packing a sad if things are not going his way. He got right into it though, and I had him doing a funny little kids arm bar, as his whole body is basically the same length as my arm.
Then he bumped his head. Like what most kids would totally ignore, but he will normally throw his toys, which is one reason we don't interact much.
I put my hand on his chest to roll him over, expecting him to tee off, and instead he took my arm! Grabbed his little mini arm bar beautifully! It was pretty cool. You are onto something here mikel.

Also, kids are not bad training partners. They are squirrely as hell. I gave him the challenge of touching the top of my head when we rolled. Keeping him from getting it without force while he tried to dive round my legs without crushing him or knocking him unconscious was hard for a big guy!