Martial Arts and Bullying

 

Usually, when somebody talks about the role of martial arts in stopping bullying, the conversation turns to the physical. Martial Arts training has many more benefits than physical ones, however, and some of these benefits can put an end to bullying without a situation degrading to the point where punches are thrown or somebody is attacked.

 

Understanding Bully Psychology

 

There are as many different types of bullies as there are bullies in total. One of the things that  training such can do to prevent bullies from making a victim of your child, however, has nothing to do with those bullies. A student of martial arts engages in physical confrontations – very controlled physical confrontations – every time they go to class. They take on bigger opponents in them, tackle challenges they don’t think that they can take on at first and push themselves in other ways all the time. Martial Arts provide all of these benefits in a supportive and healthy environment, on top of it. All of this combines to give one of the best benefits of martial arts training: confidence.

Developing Confidence

While many parents probably entertain fantasies of striking back physically at their own childhood bullies, the best antidote to bullying is to be confident. If you have training in and you have been part of the encouraging, challenging and constructive environment that the training fosters, it’s unlikely that you’re going to have confidence problems. When you have a child in these classes, the confidence they get out of attending the classes and taking on the challenges at the classes is apparent in their personality. In many cases, Martial Arts doesn’t help the child deal with bullying by making them a better fighter than the bully; it helps them by making them an obviously undesirable target for a bully.

 

If you are in Mebane and are interested in Martial Arts classes  because your child is being bullied, remember that there is more to combating bullying than physical retaliation. The best reason to sign your child up for martial arts training is for your child’s own benefit, not to accommodate the aggression of the bully. Martial Arts training will certainly make your child a less appealing target for bullies, but it will also help your child to build their own self-confidence and to believe in their own abilities, which are things that come from the inside, not from repelling external threats.