Questions for those who are instructors?

I teach because I learn when I teach. I enjoy the company, really: it's a social thing for me - or it used to be. My students - all but two - are children. And in the places that I'm an assistant, all but a small handful are children as well.

I like teaching older children because they "get it". I have difficulty with real young children - I don't really have the skills to teach them.

I think children taking up martial arts is a great thing at all ages, despite the "educational ivory towers" hinting that martial arts makes kids more aggressive (I actually find the reverse true - I can't understand why the education folks think otherwise).

Steady career? Hell no, not in a million years. Not without lowering one's standards to that of babysitter - and yes, most places around me would fail without kids for their classes. There are a lot of kids-only schools, and every one of them are plain old Mcdojos. It's not just one style - it's all of the popular ones: taekwondo, karate, mma, kungfu, and a few others.

There are only a few schools around me who are really good and who don't make their business on children, in fact one has almost no children. In my Aikido school, we have a 4:1 ratio of adult students to children, so we're hardly depending on them. But we are the exception, not the norm.

Back in the early and mid 90s I was making decent money with my school before I went back on active duty. My overhead was fairly low and I was carrying a 120-160 students and fighters depending on what time of the year it was and such. Children under the age of 12 were about 60% of my business.

Your question poses some interesting side notes and things and Mike Chat, the founder of XMA had an interesting and novel approach to things. He moved from Illinois to California where he attended college and also basically charge more for lessons and classes and Billy Blanks did basically the same thing. Both opened schools or gyms where the average yearly income is 250-300 K so that their business model and approach to things could mean that they could charge more while having fewer students. A similar approach would be key to this and what you are asking I think.

Martial arts industry studies show that children still comprise about 75% of most schools income and student enrollment. That's a huge market that you would be excluding without them and would need to make up for that some way if you are wanting to make a living or decent income from teaching martial arts.

I teach in order to make sure I continue my own training. I was worried that I would let the training go if I didn't have to do it to earn a living. My style is Tai-chi-Chuan and this system also has so many health benefits and keeps you from getting stressed.

I teach only adults as children don't have the patience and concentration these days to learn this system. Even the attention of adults has become more fragile. Tai-chi-Chuan requires quietness and stillness as much as fast movement. It is the quietness and stillness part that is difficult for children.

My school teaches both the health aspects and martial arts aspects so we don't completely depend on the fighting. And at times, more people come for one or for the other. So we survive. I also have produced 70 instructional dvds and written books so that helps out financially.

I do not teach for the career as I have a job that pays me enough to not have to charge and I teach children as well as adults. Okinawa has been teaching children Karate since 1901 and it has the longest living people in the world, that is until recent. The US took martial arts out of Okinawan schools in 1945 and it has not fully returned since then and those that attended school after 1945 are not living as long as their parents. Most comercial schools would fail without children's classes as they are the majority of students.

The problem is not children in a school it is schools that do not deliver what they promise.

I teach because I love my art and I love sharing it. I also love helping people and seeing them learn things.

Kids pay the bills if you're running a commercial dojo or want to make money.