serious question...

I apologize for the length of this, but I seriously wondering about something and could use some advice from some of you parents...

I am a parent of a 4.5 year old boy (he is currently 45 pounds and is quite solid, etc...) His older brother "was" a wrestler (still should be, but that is an entirely different discussion...)

He is completely wired at all times and I refuse to even think about having some doctor drug him up to control it. He is also a bit aggressive. From my experience as a parent of an older wrestling youngster, it seems like the perfect thing to get him involved in to hopefully help with his seemingly unending energy and aggressiveness. Also, the young men (and women) that I have seen involved in the sport during my previous involvement as a wrestling parent, seemed to me to be some of the most quality young people one can see these days.

And no, honestly, I am not a psycho-parent, or a "wrestling dad" (as would Jim Rome probably describe it), I actually say very little and never yell at matches.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant, but I am wondering when would it be too soon to introduce my boy to the mat? At present he knows there is a difference between what his older brother used to do and what he sees on television. I asked him if he wants to wrestle like his older brother several times spread out over a period of months and he says that he does and seems enthusiastic, but then again, he is four and a half and I don't want to get him involved before he is ready... trying to think both current age, potential long-term, etc...

I have seen where the kids programs take kids from 4-17, but 4 just seems too soon to me.

We are in the Wichita area btw...

I would appreciate any and all advice... Thanks!

We have an older boy who started to wrestle at age 6. He is still wrestling today and really likes it. However, to him, it is just a sport to do between football and baseball. I have two younger boys. Both of them begged to go and wrestle at a very young age. One of them, we started letting him go to "practice" at the age of 3 just because his dad was the coach. The other coach also had a son the same age and they would team up. It mainly meant that he would imitate the big kids on the mat with their daily exercises. We had him go to 4 tournaments at the age of 5. All of the tournaments he went to were very small and most were round robins. This year, we will again limit him to only 4 small tournaments. Our youngest boy is now going to practice and he is 4. Again, he just goes and imitates some of the older kids. When he gets bored, he goes and sits down and watches. He is not doing any "moves" as much as just the warm ups and running. We will probably do the same thing with him as we did with the other two. If one of my son's says they don't want to wrestle, we don't push them. If they cry before a meet, we don't have them compete. I never push them. It has helped our younger boys to understand winning and losing. It has also given them a way to do something positive with their energy. The only thing to make sure is that you never push and are there for every practice to work with him. If he starts to complain, back off and wait a little bit longer. Hope this helps.

You said:

"He is completely wired at all times and I refuse to even think about having some doctor drug him up to control it. "

I wish more people would think like you and I do. Your kid is aggressive, hyper, ADD, whatever the "experts" want to call it, so instead of disciplining the kid, and giving him ways to release the energy, the "experts" and the parents decide that turning the kid in to a drug addict, and putting him on Ritalin, is the way to go. A fine message that is sending to the kid. Become dependent on drugs for any problem that you may or may not have.

I'll say one other thing: a kid on Ritalin is in another world. you might as well not waste your time having him wrestle, as they do not care. Everything is in slow motion to them. I've seen kids that used to be aggressive and attentive, all of a sudden become the "don't give s darn" type. Come to find out, the kid was put on Ritalin.

I also saw a classmate of mine slowly become a piece of garbage from high school to this day. Worthless. Come to find out, he was on Ritalin from 7th or 8th grade on. Once dependent on drugs, always dependent on drugs.

I'm sure I'll get some heat for this, but it is my opinion, based on witnessing kids that were "put on" Ritalin.

My nephew started at 4, almost 5. He is in his 3rd year of 6/U. He actually will wrestle some at 8/U do to wanting to wrestle up to a little better competition.
I personally don't think 4 is too young. Just don't expect him to have the attention span the other kids do. 4 year olds just don't have it. They start many other sports at 4, why not wrestling???

My older nephew will be 6 this year and he started wrestling when he was 5 last year. However being that my brother-in-law and my sister have both watched me wrestle for so many years and I have been coaching/officiating for the last 4 years, We were all able to come to a conclusion on his status as a wrestler. Although he is quite young he was able to attend practices. There were some nights when he absolutly wouldn't pay attention or didn't want to be there. In that case he would be told to either sit on the side or Joe would just take him home. In other situations he would do just fine. He went to about 4 or 5 tournaments and placed at 2 or 3 of them.

I think that biggest thing to remember is not to put any pressure of them to win at that age. Obviously they are going to lose and many of them are going to cry because they feel like they aren't "winners" That is where the parents have to come in and be completly supportive. Too many times I have seen the parents of little kids at tournements say negative things to their children after losing. Things like "I can't believe you did this..." Or "Its your own fault for not doing ..."

My son now 12 started at 5. I think it is an individual decision based on the mental & physical maturity of the child. It soulds like you have some good reasons to start your son. The other comments by those with similar experience seem valid. We had had a few kids that started at 4 over the years. Some were ready
and some were not. In fact, I've seen some at 6 or 7 that were not ready. My experience suggests to avise you to not push too hard. You don't want to create burn-out in future years. We have experienced an little of this.

Again, it's an individual decision.
Best of luck with your youngster!

i started goin to practice at 2 1/2 cause my dad was the coach. Im 16 and still wrestling. DONT BURN HIM OUT. it he doesnt want to cut to a certain weight dont make him. wrestling is fun.

5 years old

we wrestled my son when he was 4 and he almost went to state it was the best thing that he could ever do it has helped hid conficence and his discipline which he really needed. We has a mother in our wrestling club her son ADD and wresling has help him greatly he is more focused and it has helped him in school see people are missing the big picture of wrestling it helps kid succeed in what ever the do.

Wow! Lots of great advice. I definitely appreciate hearing all of this info. Very definitely helpful.

One thing I did do already is that last season, I used to take my (now) 4 year-old (then 3) to many tail-ends of practice for his older brother, so he has been exposed to some of it.

I wondered about checking into the possibility of me taking him to be a "fly-on-the-wall" for some parts of the kids teams practices in the area as a next step.

I was thinking the practices might be a better first step, because as his attention span is almost non-existent, I am not sure at this point, he could sit through very much of a tournament, although I think that would be of some help too.

I have never been one for trying to force his older brother into any sports, and I didn't want to start doing that kind of thing with his younger brother (the 4 year-old), but then again, his older brother was/is quite reserved, even tempered, low-key, a great student, and does have a limit to his energy level. With my previous experiences as a wrestling parent, it seems like almost the perfect activity/sport for such a youngster.

Please, if you alls, or anybody else that hasn't already, chime in and put in your 2 cents. Any and all info is appreciated. Thank you VERY much!

We have started both of our boys at the age of 4. And I agree, I think it is a good outlet for energy. They learn self-discipline and self-confidence. Both of our boys still wrestle and they are now 6 & 11. When our youngest was 4, we would ask if he wanted to enter in the tournament. We would let him choose. He mostly wrestled at the local tournaments. We learned that the big tourneys, make for very, very long days for 4 year olds. He is very ready for this season. He has learned alot of moves in the past and wants to learn more of the "Big" moves this season. Good Luck in this season.

One other suggestion if starting them young - don't leave practice - the last thing coaches need to do is babysit kids who don't have the ability to pay attention for an hour or more. Plus if they get hurt they need Mom / Dad.

I think your concerns are very valid. 4.5 years is not too young, especially if he has energy to burn and as long as he is not pushed too hard to achieve. You seem very concerned about it anyway so I think you will be good at not making it a chore for him.
However, the ADHD problem needs to be addressed with a doctor and or advice from someone who has been through it. My child is on ADD medicine ( He is not Hyper and does not need Ritalyn, he takes Aderall) I had many concerns about "drugging" my kid but in the long run I could'nt let him fail his grade or be put into special classes because I refused to see a doctor. My son has more focus on wrestling, Football, Baseball and especially school work than ever before. He does not walk around like a zombie nor is he "addicted" He does not take the medicine in the summer nor on weekends and he has absolutely no problem with "withdrawls". As a matter of fact he does not notice one way or the other. I, however, and teachers have seen vast improvements. I also think you'll find many more kids that have dropped out of school and got addicted to drugs due to the fact they didn't take medicine and really needed it. I do think though that my situation is different because my kid is already in slo mo without drugs. Being a mother that has a child with ADD I've talked with and been around many others who are on these medications and to my knowledge those who do need it and take ridalyn are not completely altered and are not zombie like. One more thing, It took me over a year to get him diagnosed and taking medications. We saw three physicians, a psychologist and had many many conferences with teachers and councelors. It's not as easy as everyone thinks. My son used to get all D's and F's (except gym) and now he is maintaining a B average. These are not magical pills and we still have to work hard on homework and everything else but if I hadn't of decided that what the teachers had been telling me for three years was symptoms of ADD I could have let my son fall even further behind.
Anyway, thanks for letting me voice my opinion.