Bullying is one of the main concerns most parents have when they send their kids off to school. Facing adversity in such an important phase in their life can bring about serious consequences; as the kids may experience physical, psychological or emotional trauma. Some may have a hard time coping. Some may carry with them the burden of being bullied the rest of their lives. What you do as a parent early on can determine their overall social growth as they become adults.
Martial arts training is one of the best choices for countering bullying. It could give your child the skills to overcome adversity while retaining invaluable life skills they can use later.
My Child Is Being Bullied
It’s understandable for your child to not tell you about what’s happening in school. Kids tend to keep to themselves, especially if they’re experiencing difficulties studying, socializing or if they’re being bullied. But as parents it’s your responsibility to detect the signs of bullying. The most obvious ones are when your child cries each day at the thought of going to school, when he or she refuses to budge when the school bus comes around or when their friends have suddenly left them all alone.
Parents should have an understanding of what’s going on inside the four walls of the classroom. They should also be communicating with school teachers and the principal regurly. These school officials can tell you what’s happening and formulate a plan of action, i.e., what triggers the bullish behavior. You can then determine your child’s strength and weaknesses and play up to the strength of your child to ward off the bully and have an increased self-esteem, which acts as a natural deterrent to bullying.
A child that has healthy self-confidence won’t allow bullying to happen to them. That confidence is marked with having a self-assured aura and trust with oneself. But this trait doesn’t happen overnight- children must be exposed to it in order to acquire it. Role models such as martial arts masters can empower your child by teaching various martial arts movements, stances and poses during martial arts training. The effects of these teachings are positive and they bring a lot to the table. Your child will have more confidence in what they can do. What’s best is that martial arts classes will also teach your child about proper behavior and techniques they can focus on to better themselves.
Standing Up Against The Bully
Children who are self-assured naturally open up their bodies and stretch out, while those who are afraid naturally try to make themselves as small as possible. With martial arts training, your child will learn how to be confident. That confidence helps them develop a sense of worth. These two things are the key ingredients in overcoming bullying.
Bullying can come in many forms- destroying a personal property, hurling verbal attacks, starting false rumors, name calling, cyberbullying and others. Martial arts doesn’t teach your child to attack on his or her own or encourage physical violence to fight bullying. These techniques are only used as a last resort or as an act of self-defense. A strong and present mind should be enough to deter future bullying attacks against your child as any act will not diminish their self-worth or self-esteem.
Parents take play an active role in their children’s fight against bullying in school, in the neighborhood or the community by enrolling them in the right martial arts discipline. Young students learn from martial arts teachers and masters about the value of self-confidence. Martial arts is a wonderful discipline where your child can learn many things that aren’t taught in school.
In a martial arts class, your child will learn how to discipline themselves. They will develop lifelong skills that will be useful as they grow up to become adults. They will learn the value of respect and being polite to their elders. What’s more, they will learn to be resilient and take on the hardships of life as a challenge and not something they should run away from. Your child can potentially influence others in a good way and become a leader or a positive example by using nonviolent ways to resolve conflict.
Do you want to know how martial arts can help your child to overcome bullying? When it comes to bullying, it can be a challenge to know if your child is a victim and take the necessary actions to protect him or her. The reason is that children are in most cases ashamed at what they perceive as their problem, which means that they may not tell you as a parent.
It means that it’s up to you to identify the common bullying signs, which will enable you to provide support to them and take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen in future. The best way to boost their confidence, which will ensure they overcome bullying incidents, is by enrolling them in a martial arts academy. This post gives you 5 ways on how martial arts boost your child’s confidence.
Martial Arts Makes Your Child Know That Gender and Size Doesn’t Matter
Many people view martial arts as a male-dominated sport. However, keep in mind that girls are capable of picking up its techniques and excelling in it. The reason is that gender doesn’t matter when it comes to martial arts. Another factor that doesn’t count when it comes to this sport is size. The reason is that some styles focus on leverage and technique, which enables smaller, bodied people to overcome bigger opponents.
Martial arts enables your child to know that perseverance and hard work are the keys to success, which means that they will no longer let their gender or size be the reason for others to bully them.
It Makes Children Stand Up For Themselves
Bear in mind that bullying is a growing problem in schools around the world. Many of us would prefer to wish that it isn’t an issue among kids. However, the truth is that at least one out of five students experience bullying. While you may not prevent your child from getting bullied, you can empower them to keep away bullies by allowing them to train in martial arts.
Martial arts training enable your kids to learn how to respect others, starting from their instructors to their peers. That’s regardless of their age, size, gender and rank. Another benefit of learning this sport is that it enables them to build their social skills since they interact with other kids.
The result is that they will have the confidence to handle bullying incidences and walk away from trouble. In the case that everything else fails, they will have the required skills to deal with physical attacks.
Enables Kids to Embrace Failure
Martial arts impart your children with the confidence, discipline, mental strength and focus that they need to have to prevent bullying. Remember that failure is part of life, which means that your kid will sooner or later face it, for example, at the gym or school. Unfortunately, it may cause her or him to feel inadequate and disheartened, that’s if they can’t handle failure well.
Martial arts teach your children that failure is necessary if they want to progress and growth to happen. The reason is that through failure they get to learn valuable lessons and mistakes, which means that in future they will be careful. In the end, they will know that failure is a learning opportunity.
It Toughens Up Your Kid Mentally and Physically
Martial arts enable your children to grow stronger, both mentally and physically. However, you should keep in mind that apart from engaging their muscles, it teaches them to excel outside their comfort zone, which means that they won’t be afraid to try new things. The result is that they will be able to deal with all types of situations such as bullying.
It Teaches Your Kid That Progress Is Better Than Perfection
It reaches a point in life where your children will set individual goals and work towards achieving them. However, your child may get impatient if they fail to notice instant results. Through learning martial arts, they will stop blaming themselves for not being good enough the moment they start to see progress. It will enable them to learn all the martial arts steps without being in a rush.
Another advantage of martial arts is that it promotes self-improvement which is a positive thing that your kids should make an effort to achieve. Finally, their ultimate goal is to improve by at least 1% each day.
Summary
Martial arts enable your child to overcome bullying in many ways as the above informative article shows. The best way is to enroll him or her at your nearest gym to enjoy the benefits of martial arts training.
As parents, we all know the dangers of bullying. While school systems across the country are actively engaging this problem, sadly it continues. Luckily, there are some things that you can do to help bring this epidemic to an end. By teaching your child to recognize bullying and standing up for their fellow student, it will greatly reduce the potential for bullying. One of the best ways to instill these values in your child is through martial arts. Today we are going to take a look at how this age-old practice can help.
Using Martial Arts to Inspire Confidence
One tactic that many bullies use is to destroy their victim’s confidence and those that are around them. This leads to further incidents and other students are simply afraid to tell their teacher and parents about what is going on. But with the proper training, children of any age can learn to be more confident and stand up for what is right. Even if your child is not the one getting bullied, chances are they are still affected by it. In order to help your child build the confidence they need, why not start them on a martial arts program? One of the core principles of any martial arts discipline is self-confidence.
Martial Arts Teaches Compassion
Not only does martial arts teach students to be confident, it also helps them be more compassionate to others. When a child that is trained in martial arts see someone being bullied, they are more likely to stand up and say something. Having compassion for their fellow student will also carry over into their adult lives.
Martial Arts Teaches De-Escalation
Most bullying incidents can be pretty intense and getting involved can often put you at risk. But a child trained in martial arts will have the ability to de-escalate the situation before it turns into a real fight. This ability to bring down tensions is also another principle that martial arts instill in its pupils. With the use of diplomacy, your child just might help stop bullying and potentially save lives in the process.
It will Allow Them to Protect Themselves
While you should never instruct your child to get into a fight, sometimes confrontation is unavoidable. Even the most highly trained martial arts practitioner can’t avoid it all of the time. When this happens, wouldn’t you want your child to be able to safely defend themselves and at the same time reduce injury to all parties involved? Martial arts can help your child be prepared in case diplomacy fails. The good thing about martial arts is that your child will learn self-dense moves that can be used in any situation.
Martial Arts Can Save Lives
We all know that bullying can turn deadly. In fact, the news is full of tragic stories that all started because of bullying. This is why it is so important to place your child into a martial arts program. Not only will it help protect their own lives but the lives of those around them as well.
Most parents will enroll their kids in martial arts classes so that they can defend themselves against bullies. On the flip side, a parent who has a child who is a bully can benefit from the classes to help prevent their “violent” behaviors. The classes are not only geared towards teaching students how to punch or kick someone, but they also challenge children to push their boundaries and overcome them. The classes teach children many valuable life lessons, and they typically end up with a set of positive traits once they are through with training. Some of the ways that martial arts can teach bullies to be respectful include lessons in:
Respect
The most valuable lesson that kids take away from martial arts is respect. The classes encourage children to develop a sense of respect for authority figures and their peers as well. As they learn this vital skill, trainers present a formal environment where instructors and students are expected to maintain high levels of discipline. The second a child steps into the training room, they bow to their instructors and the other students. Such exercises show respect for the lesson and space. Other than this, the moves they learn in class, such as holding back move, controlling movement and continuing training even when tired requires discipline. Showing respect typically necessitates regulation. When students are frustrated or mad during a lesson, they still have to be respectful to their peers and instructors. After a short time in class, you will find that bullies show greater respect for their peers and even students who are younger than them helping them out when in need instead of harassing them.
Humility
Another valuable lesson that bullies can learn in martial arts classes is humility. During training, everyone makes mistakes and losses come matches. Humility showcases itself when students have to accept they may be people who have better skills. It should motivate them to become better.
Decreasing Aggression
Most bullies have anger issues and low self-esteem. Taking the classes can help the kids control their frustrations and aggression. Traditional martial arts focus on avoiding impulse actions and conflict, aggression and hostility building a non-violent, honorable, and respectful character.
Increased Self-Regulation and Self-Control
Martial arts also promote self-control as the traditional form has a strict moral code of conduct that emphasizes on courtesy and respect.
Enhancing Social Inclusion
Some bullies end up behaving irrationally because they feel like they cannot fit in and have friendships, so they try and bully their way to the top. Martial arts bring together people who have the same interests and goals. The feeling of belonging to a social group is enhanced at this point. While training, students have to interact with other children to perform some of the techniques and advances in the art. It can teach children how to socialize when out there in the world to develop meaningful relationships.
Note that martial arts classes can help end bullying tendencies among kids as they promote positive behavior in the training room and away. The classes foster an environment where students learn to respect themselves and the people around them. They also learn the importance of discipline, hard work, and perseverance to become better individuals.
Martial Arts is an art form that has been around for years. Its foundation is built on self discipline and self defense. If used properly, it can teach a person some of the fundamentals of life and also to help them protect themselves, if needed. There is no age limit for martial arts and anyone can benefit from practicing this artwork, especially kids.
How do kids benefit from taking martial arts classes?
Children are the most impressionable when they are young and it is easy to begin teaching them life skills. Just like a child who starts school at the age of five to begin learning essentials that will need later in life, martial arts can/will have that same effect. If children are taught early in life, they can take what they have learned and apply it to other areas of their lives as they grow.
Why does a child need to know how to fight?
It’s not as much about fighting as it is about learning to protect oneself. Children will learn early on that there are some nice people in the world and some that are not so nice. Even their own peers can be mean and bully a child. Even with the efforts to stop bullying, it still happens and mentally preparing your child for these situations, can cause them less heartache. Martial arts is not solely about fighting, it is a process that trains not only your body but your mind. This will help a child know how to fight and when it is okay to fight. Children can benefit from the physical fitness and learning how to be disciplined in all other areas of their lives.
Is martial arts safe?
If executed properly, martial arts is very safe. Considering the fact that martial arts is all about self discipline, it will teach a child how to defend his or herself, if needed. Bullying can sometimes only be verbal but there can be situations where it turns violent. If your child knows the proper self defense maneuvers, they can learn to fight off an attacker. This is also something that will benefit them throughout their lives.
Will martial arts help my child stand up for his or herself?
Martial arts will teach the child the fundamentals of defending his or herself but that doesn’t mean all children will act upon it. Knowing how to fight, if needed, doesn’t necessarily mean that the child will fight when that time comes. Children are taught from a young age to keep their hands to themselves and that is is not nice to hit others. This can be a hard habit to break, even in the midst of a fight. Bullies feed off of weakness and if they aren’t stood up to, the bullying can continue. Parents need to encourage their kids that it is okay to fight, if you have to. They have to know that there is no need to fear getting in trouble for defending themselves. A child who has the confidence and support to stand up for themselves, will have the courage to tackle other hard aspects that they may encounter throughout the duration of their lives.
How to let a child know that it is good to stand up for themselves?
For starters, let your child know that it is not okay to be treated badly, verbally or physically. When a person starts to treat you badly, they will continue to if they see they can get away with it. Let your child know their worth and that they deserve nothing but the best in life. Just feeling like they are not alone and that you are standing behind them, can help them have the courage to stand up to the person who is treating them badly. This doesn’t happen overnight because fears don’t disappear overnight but they will have the tools and confidence to move in the right direction. Martial arts is great in helping to achieve this because children will learn to stand up for themselves at an early age and possibly won’t ever have to encounter bullying but if they do, they will know how to handle the situation.
Will the bullying continue if my child stands up for his or herself?
Bullies pick on who they deem as being weak and individuals who will take whatever is dished out to them, most of the time out of fear. Standing up to a bully will show them that you are not afraid and most of the time, the bullying ends. When a bully sees that you can’t be pushed around, they will move on. Children who are bullied and have conquered their fear of the bully, often realize that they are stronger than they ever imagined and that the bully was the weak one all along.
Bullying is one of the main concerns most parents have when they send their kids off to school. Facing adversity in such an important phase in their life can bring about serious consequences, as the kids may experience physical, psychological or emotional trauma. Some may have a hard time coping and carry with them the burden of being bullied the rest of their lives. What you can do as a parent early on can determine their overall physiological makeup in the adolescent or the adult life.
Martial arts training is one of the best choices for countering bullying. It could give your child the necessary skills to overcome adversity while retaining invaluable life skills they can use down the road.
My Child Is Being Bullied
It’s understandable for your child to not tell you about what’s happening in school. Kids tend to keep to themselves, especially if they’re experiencing difficulties studying, socializing or if they’re being bullied. But as parents it’s your responsibility to detect the signs of bullying. The most obvious ones are when your child cries each day at the thought of going to school, when he or she refuses to budge when the school bus comes around or when their friends have suddenly left them all alone. Parents should have an understanding of what’s going on inside the four walls of the classroom by communicating with school teachers and the principal. These school officials can tell you what’s happening and formulate a plan of action, i.e., what triggers the bullish behavior. You can then determine your child’s strength and weaknesses and play up to the strength of your child to ward off the bully and have an increased self-esteem, which acts as a natural deterrent to bullying.
A child that has healthy self-confidence won’t allow bullying to happen to them. That confidence is marked with having a self-assured aura and trust with oneself. But this trait doesn’t happen overnight- children must be exposed to it in order to acquire it. Role models such as martial arts masters can empower your child by teaching various martial arts movements, stances and poses during martial arts training. The effects of these teachings are positive and they bring a lot to the table. Your child will have more confidence in what they can do. What’s best is that martial arts classes will also teach your child about proper behavior and techniques they can focus on to better themselves.
Standing Up Against The Bully
Children who are self-assured naturally open up their bodies and stretch out, while those who are afraid naturally try to make themselves as small as possible. With martial arts training, your child will learn how to be confident all the time, and this makes them develop a sense of worth. These two things are the key ingredients in overcoming bullying.
Bullying can come in many forms- destroying a personal property, hurling verbal attacks, starting false rumors, name calling, cyberbullying and others. Martial arts doesn’t teach your child to attack on his or her own or encourage physical violence to fight bullying. These techniques are only used as a last resort or as an act of self-defense. A strong and present mind should be enough to deter future bullying attacks against your child as any act will not diminish their self-worth or self-esteem.
Parents take play an active role in their children’s fight against bullying in school, in the neighborhood or the community by enrolling them in the right martial arts discipline. Young students learn from martial arts teachers and masters about the value of self-confidence. Martial arts is a wonderful discipline where your child can learn many things that aren’t taught in school. In a martial arts class, your child will learn how to discipline themselves. They will develop lifelong skills that will be useful as they grow up to become adults. They will learn the value of respect and being polite to their elders. What’s more, they will learn to be resilient and take on the hardships of life as a challenge and not something they should run away from. Your child can potentially influence others in a good way and become a leader or a positive example by using nonviolent ways to resolve conflict.
You send your child to school and you can’t help but worry about the bullying problem that is reportedly happening in most learning institutions. It is even worse when you know very well you also encountered bullying at one point during school, either as the victim or bully. In today’s society, so many children are affected by bullying and wake up every day scared to go to school. Yes, you may try to take a few initiatives to protect your kid from bullies, however, most of the time the bullying may be occurring right under your nose or you may not even suspect it.
Today I am going to tell you about one of the ways to get rid of bullying and that is martial arts. When it comes to martial arts, it is a solution for both the bully and the victim. Martial arts can be done by everyone and really helps curb the bullying problems and this is how it does it.
Martial Arts Instills Respect
When it comes to martial arts, respect is one of the first values one has to learn. Have you ever wondered why in boxing the competitors touch gloves and Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes must start with a bow? It all comes down to respect irrespective of age and gender. Once your child embraces respect, then he may actually be able to look at his faults and try to correct them. Martial arts helps children understand that they should respect other people’s feelings and the effects their action has on them. They will, therefore, be able to view the world in a more respectful way.
Martial Arts Enables Children Understand all About Sportsmanship
In many schools today, there is a lot of competition and losing or winning is very crucial to the kids. This is usually one of the main causes of bullying. Martial arts will actually teach children that it is not all about winning, but the whole game and how you play it. Your children will, therefore, understand what true sportsmanship is all about and get to appreciate the small wins while accepting defeat when they don’t win. Children will come to understand that you actually gain a lot from the loss because you gain experience. Generally, your kids should understand true sportsmanship because it helps them in every stage. The world is never fair and there are so many challenges they are bound to encounter in their life.
Martial Arts Impacts Them with a Sense of Responsibility
When you learn martial arts you must learn to be responsible and use martial arts for nothing else but self-defense. Once your child is able to responsibly practice martial arts then he will be able to resist bullying by showing a sense of responsibility. With time your child realizes that physical conflict affects both him and the opponent. Your child will clearly be able to understand bullying is wrong and there are consequences.
Martial Arts Gives Children a Positive Attitude
When you practice martial arts you get enriched with a positive attitude and you are always simply glowing. This is usually because martial arts is not all about the physical body but spirit and mind. Your mind, spirit, and body actually need to work in unison this will clear the negativity and leave you with a cool positive vibe. Your kids will, therefore, be more positive everywhere, making them not be victims of bullying and they will not instigate bullying. When you really want to stop bullying, why not start by giving our kids a generally positive happy life. When the vibe is positive there is usually no reason for bullying and children tend to play nice.
Martial Arts Builds Lasting Relationship
Martial arts teaches children the value of teamwork and how we help each other achieve different goals and achievements. When your child starts learning martial arts, he or she will begin to appreciate friendship and cherish them. This means that the children will begin to focus on building friendships rather than pushing people away.
Conclusion
Martial arts is clearly a way to get rid of bullying once and for all. You should ensure you enroll your child in a martial arts program that is available close to you. They will benefit as individuals and grow with so many positive core values.
Bullying is every parent’s worst nightmare as they send their children to school. Millions of children in the world wake up scared to attend school because of the bullies. Bullying affects the child’s self-esteem. Parents and teachers try their best to mediate such rough behavior but sometimes it is hard to tell if bullying is occurring.
A bully will pick on their victim repeatedly. The bully uses physical strength or social standing to harass the victim. Here are few tell-tale signs of bullying:
Mysterious bruises
Falling grades
The desire to miss school
Depression
Martial Arts and Overcoming Bullying
One of the most effective of overcoming bullying is enrolling your child in a martial arts class. Martial arts is beneficial to the bully and the one being bullied.
Martial arts help instill discipline and wisdom of self-defense. It also teaches your child the true values of respect, sportsmanship, and responsibility.
How Martial Arts Stop Bullying
Teaches Respect
Martial art pays special attention to respect. Respect plays a critical role during the training. It teaches the children to respect their seniors and peers. Have you ever wondered why martial arts classes always begin with a bow?
A true martial artist needs to be respectful. Once children take up respect as a trait, they become open to their flaws and work on improving them. It also heightens the sense of self-awareness in the bully and the victim too.
It humbles the child enabling them to identify their shortcomings. In the process, they become better human beings.
Sense of sportsmanship
There is a lot of fuss about winning and losing in this day and age. However, martial art teaches children that winning or losing should not the ultimate goal. Instead, learn how to play the game. Regardless of the outcome, the child gains experience, wisdom, and knowledge. You never truly lose and this is something children will learn during the training.
Besides gaining the sense of sportsmanship, the children can home their skills and improve their craft. They get a feeling of self-achievement.
Helps children develop a strong mentality
For bullying to happen, there needs to be a bully, the victim, and a situation. In most cases, the victim will send out a signal that they are weak or defenseless. Being confident deters the bully from attacking the target.
Martial arts help the child have confidence and strong mentality. The children also realize they have the power to defend themselves when the need arises.
Enables The Child To Take Action
Martial arts is not about violence. It prevents an altercation but can occasionally be used to respond to physical violence. Children can defeat bullies bigger than the through technique, fitness, power, and speed.
An untrained participant will tire after a few minutes but a trained martial artist has ample stamina to withstand any attack. If the child successfully attacks or defeats the bully, the bully will find another target.
Offers An Enriching Experience
Martial arts develops the body, mind and spirit of the child. The muscles develop during the workout. Also, the child discovers their physical capability and how far they can go.
The lessons calibrate the mind by clearing all the stress and negativity. The spirit feels enriched with positive power emanating from the sport.
Prevent escalation
Sometimes, it is important to stop a problem from escalating. Parents often encourage their children to walk away. What happens if the bully keeps following and attacking your child? The victim needs to stand his ground. Martial arts enables the child to gather the courage to defend himself from the bully.
Long Lasting Friendship
It may appear unimportant but there is need to maintain meaningful and lasting relationships. The children work together during training which creates a sense of camaraderie with their peers.
Enrolling your child in martial arts classes open many doors. It helps them widen their horizons, re-evaluate their lives, and improve their lives. The children learn to defend themselves from bullies and create a sense of teamwork.
The children learn important life lessons too and true values such as respect and responsibility. Let your child develop confidence and a strong mentality that deters the bullies. You can rest easy knowing your child has the power to stop bullying.
