I'm not, but I'm interested as well, very cool seeing and meeting people who have been doing it all their life. Many have the potential to be extraordinary in grappling :)

Was it voluntary for you to do it as a kid or how did it work? I have two young kids but they don't even really know what Jiu Jitsu is, I feel like they can come ask to try one day if they want to. I know many parents have a different perspective, so it would be interesting to hear from a (grown-up) child how it was :)

Both my parents were high level judo competitors back in the day, and they got me started in Judo early. I've done martial arts for most of my life, started with Judo and did Tae-kwon-do, Kickboxing, MMA and traditional Jiu-jitsu for a while. My dad was not very happy when I quit Judo for TKD but hey, as far as youth revolts go it could have been worse.
I like to believe that fighting has been part of my family for a long time - I've been told stories of a great-great-great-grandmother who owned a tavern in Bavaria and would separate fighting customers by going to town on them with her shoe.

I train my boys, neither of whom are 14 years old yet,

in the basics of Wrestling, Judo, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and Boxing.

But I do so at home, and as their academic schedules and work loads allow.

I am tinkering with putting the older boy back on a team.

But the younger boy is struggling with his academics.

Frankly I would LOVE to see them join the local school wrestling teams.

But, they have to focus on their academics first,

and they seem more interested in golf, and shooting sports, and sadly from my view, playing video games.

I also have a 3 combat tour navy corpsman who is an excellent firearms trainer

train them in either pistol or rifle, and firearm safety work every week.

And, I intend to make sure that each of them get dancing lessons,

so they are able to express themselves with their fists or firearms in self-defense,

but also with their feet, when in the company of ladies,

as that too, is a form of empowerment with other humans.

And, I am hoping the younger boy picks up piano, as he seems musically inclined, and interested.

The older boy seems to have a good head for and interest in science, so I am excited about that, as well.

The bottom line is, just because I am a grappling nerd, and I want them to be able to defend themselves,

there is more to life than grappling, and I am not going to force them to be me, nor try to relive my grappling younger days through them,

if that is not truly their own interest for their lives.

Christian,
I, like many other kids, started out as a mat rat. My mom and dad would bring me with them when they went to train. I would quietly hang out and watch in the corner of the dojo. I think this may have planted the seed. When I was 5, I started to train, but it wasn't till I was 8 that I started to take it seriously.
For me, BJJ was not really a voluntary thing, and in the beginning I honestly hated it. Despite this, quitting was never an option. I personally hated training, but loved competing. I still remember when I won the gold at the first ever kids Worlds, I got a bike as part of the prize. After that I was all in.
During my teenage years I started to focus on other sports(softball) and stopped competing, but I still trained on a regular basis. All the lessons I learned in BJJ really helped me get good at other sports and school. I did take a break from BJJ when I went off to college at US military academy at West Point. During this time I felt like something in my life was missing and as soon as I left the West Point, I started to refocus on BJJ.
These days, BJJ serves as a mental security blanket and a place where I find family while I am away from home. I think forcing your kids to train is the best thing you can do for them despite their protestation, they will thank you in the end.

Beautiful story Mikayla....now get off the internet and go study.

Bwahaha...!