Took the kids for the free week at a Gracie gym.  
13 and 14 y/o boys.  
They played football for a couple
Of seasons, they skate board and have played base ball for years.  
As they are home schooled I really wanted them to get some face to face “man on man” experience.
I was very pleased that they were on the mat right off the bat.
They really liked it and are going back to night and enrolling.  
Who’s got kids in BJJ? Experiences?

My 11-year-old grandson has been in a class for about a year and a half. He is tall and skinny and was being bullied quite a bit. He is enrolled in a well-rounded MMA/Jui Jitsu/boxing class and doing well. The bullying has all but stopped since his classmates found out about it. He is not terribly aggressive outside the ring but takes no guff from anyone. It has done wonders for him.

I got my five year old enrolled at Renzo's school. He was still young and didn't have the attention span for a lot of the intricacies of the moves, so we let it lapse. Instead, we're getting him involved in wrestling in the spring and we'll circle back with BJJ when he's older.

On the other hand, the instructor convinced me to join and I love it.

I'm still a lowly white belt (with a few stripes), but I can already see the benefits. Apart from the fitness benefits, it truly inoculates you from the fear of physical confrontation. If you can survive against trained killers, even for a few minutes, you'll have no problem dealing with some random drunk in a bar.

Also, one of the other benefits is forcing you to learn to find comfort and stay calm in uncomfortable situations. The first time some giant purple belt applies serious pressure from side control, you want to tap just from claustrophobia. While it's still sucks to deal with, your tolerance for being in bad situation improves. That's a life lesson that goes beyond BJJ.

I try to get my 10 yr old into it, but not real interested, even when I try to connect how it will help him with football (his passion).  He did karate for a few years, but it wasn't very competitive.  I also tried to get him to think about wrestling but no go.

Any ideas y'all used?  My kid is ~99th percentile stubborn, if I can't get him on board somehow, its a pointless exercise LOL.

First week is free. Make him do it a couple of times.
My kids were just curious. Although they just started, they really like it.  Way more than each thought they would.
I believe it's the "dive right in" and start wrestling did it.

Yeah, I have had to do that with a couple of activities with him so far, couple worked out, its just way more work convincing him than it needs to be

Well if they’re doing it you may as well start as well.

Some kids, just like adults, are not fighters and never will be. Better not to force it and support what they are interested in.

I did judo as a teen and dabbled in jujitsu. It was before the whole bjj craze that blew up. I loved it and I'm sure your boys will too.

No kids but i train at a school with a great kids program.  These young guys really get a lot out of it. Great stuff

Two of mine did it for a while.
One got pretty good, was rolling with adults at 14.
But he was bigger and stronger than most.

Had a mild knee injury from BJJ that healed up quickly.
But a devastating injury from HS football, so cant do either anymore.

That said, he is a powerlifting beast these days but really misses the contact sports.

BJJ is a huge positive, at least at some places, and they were at a great one.

The kids are still loving it.
I couldn’t stand it and I started tonight.  
Holy shit.  I’m dead.  
It was a blast until I ran out of gas.
Gotta work on cardio.  It’s not my strong point.

Best way to work on BJJ cardio is doing more BJJ.
I've found the energy systems for kickboxing and grappling to be quite different, or maybe I just got more efficient in one first.

My son started at 7 years old and l po vs it.  Hes 8 now and just got his gray belt.  I started Bout 6 months ago, still a white belt (we dont do stripes for adults) so no idea how much further until blue.  We both love it but I work nights every other month so it's hard to make it a lot.

The key to cardio in BJJ is not to need it

But in all seriousness, stay calm, cool and collected. If you are starting to breath hard you are probably working too hard.

My son has been in BJJ for two years now. He does BJJ 6 hours a week and Muay Thai 2 hours, (same place.)

IMO BJJ is probably one of the best for a kid to do to get a lot out of it.

I've been at it a month and a half.
At least 2 nights a week BJJ followed directly by an MMA/Kickboxing class.
Cardio is already best it's ever been and improving.
A couple of weeks ago I started seeing missed opportunities.
Now I am able to put a couple of moves into play if the other guy messes up.
Completing them  is another story.
Went to a tournament in Orange Beach last weekend. I didn't enter, but the kids did. They held their own.
Our primary gym is a "self defense" not a "sport/points oriented" gym. My terms, but you get the idea.
We had no idea about points, etc.
Being use to fighting until submission vs gaining an advantage and just keeping it are two totally different things.
The biggest super heavy, about 280 lbs, would get the advantage and stay flopped on his opponent until time.
Whatever. It's a blast.

I studied Japanese Jujutsu for many years.  Many of the scenarios begin with someone holding onto a lapel and a sleeve of my Gi.  After a time, it occurred to me that someone outside the dojo grabbing me by the lapel would only be setting themselves up.  I realized they can't punch me if they are holding onto my lapels, and I'll bet money that I would have more "resources" available from a lapel grab than they would.

The jujutsu really does give a person greater confidence in addition to physical fitness and stress reduction.

It really helps you get comfortable with a real world fight scenario in my opinion.