Judo for Parents . com

Unfortunately, at some point in most children’s lives they will have to contend with a bully. Bullies can have a devastating effect on your child and often we see children brought to Judo because of it.

Now, how does Judo help a child with coping with a bully?

Judo is firmly rooted in respect. Judo is about self-respect and respect for others and it is this aspect that is particularly relevant in the context of bullies.

There is also (of course) the physical self defense aspect of doing Judo. Your child will learn skills that they ‘could’ use to defend themselves physically. This however is not what Judo is about, nor what we shall discuss. Yes, Judo will teach your child how to defend themselves, but the other elements are more important and harder to gain.

Judo is a very physical sport, where your child will be working in very close physical proximity with other children. They will be rolling around on the ground with other children lying on top of them. They will picking up other children and dropping them on their backs, they too shall be taking big falls.

All this physicality is done with smiles on faces and you will never see it devolve down to brawling, with bad feeling.

Judo players are taught directly and indirectly to respect their partners. They learn to expect respect too. Your child will also learn to take a “knock” without losing their tempers. Having this terrific respect themselves and others, your child is better prepared to deal with a bully than other children.

Bullies target children who will be hurt physically or emotionally by them. Physically your child will, having done Judo, know how to take physical hurt better than others.

More importantly, your child will have respect for others and for themselves. Taunting and name calling will have less of an effect on your child as they will know they are respected and valued. They are able to ignore the stupid name calling and this in tern leads the bully to receive less gratification from their bullying and will soon move onto better targets.

Your child is also likely to have friends from the Judo club to associate with at school, who will help prevent your child being isolated; which is when bullies normally target a victim.

Last and least, should the bullying become physical in nature, your child will be best equipped to cope with it. A typical example bullying tactic is to trip the victim as they pass by. A student of Judo will learn to do a forward rolling breakfall, gracefully rolling after the trip rather than falling. That will take the wind from the bully’s sails and more than likely earn your child some respect from the other kids for their “cool judo roll”.

Should the bullying become fighting, well, we would hope that your child will have learned to avoid a fight. Perhaps, they will have the self-confidence and experience communicating with adults in the Judo club, to go and speak with a teacher about the bullying.

Often we see kids brought to Judo to learn to “protect themselves”, but where Judo really helps bullied children is in developing their characters.

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/1876534801/

lancew Judo

Many adults new to judo often ask, “How long does it take to learn judo?”  The answer is very complex, and can depend, just like anything else in life, on how much you put into training.  There has to be a consistent personal dedication to judo, just like any other form of working out or study program.  To some that may mean starting out with one or two workouts a week, and build to 3 or more over time.  To others it may mean a daily workout 5 days a week, or at least time devoted to training.  This may not mean that all the workouts would take place at the dojo, but may consist of a particular workout at home or elsewhere, such as judo tube excercises on a tree, or even stretching in a livingroom.    If one chooses to pursue this latter type of training, they might find that “learning judo” may come much faster than one who chooses to practice once a week.   That said, one can still learn with only one practice a week, it just may take longer.  One class a week gains more than none. 

Scheduling often prevents more workouts as we get older, enter into careers, marry and start families, however, by making personal dedications to training and setting specific goals, I believe that one can find the time to do what they want to do.  Many children who come to judo may not want to come, but are forced to by thier parents.  In these cases, it is good to have the children try to find out why they are there, or help them to discover a personal reason, other than based on the fact that they are forced to come.  If they can discover or articulate a reason why they are in judo class, often times they become more involved and find that they actually do enjoy coming.  For adults, I believe you must ask yourself the same question.  Why are you here and what do you want to learn?  Do you want to get in better shape?  Do you want to learn how to defend yourself?  Do you want to compete in tournaments, or is it simply that you are looking for an activity with comradere?  Whatever the reason is, define it, set your goals, and make a personal dedication to scheduled training.  You will often find with children, those who are forced to come to judo are done so for the primary benefit of learning discipline, and accomplishment when you dont want to make the effort.  Again, this applies to adults the same as children.  It becomes very clear when you become an adult and have children yourself, and remember the activities that you were forced to go to as a child.  And lastly, please remember, it is not only about your training, but also about others in the class who rely on you for thier own personal training.  This is one of the strong basic foundations of judo, the principal of mutual welfare and benefit. 

(This post was originally posted at www.okcdt.com ) 

miked Judo