Judo and Bullies.

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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.

 

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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/