As a former victim of bullying in my younger schools days, I know that begin bullied is no fun at all. and no matter what schools and governments may tell you it still goes on today.
So as parents what can we do to help our young ones from been victims of bullying.
The simple step is to equip your child with confidence.
Most bullies look for victims that do not fit in and have low self esteem, someone who is unable to make friends.
Bullies can be just like animals looking for the weakest in the herd. Why do they do this?
Quite simple, normally no one else will mind as they do not know the person and of course most bullies do not want to get hurt so figure you'll do nothing back to them.
So we have to teach our son/daughter to be confident.
Let's imagine your child is just about to start school and meet new friends and class mates.
We need to make sure that your child appear to be comfortable in their new surroundings. This is done by communicating with our body language, a good straight posture, shoulders back, chin up making good eye contact when speaking to some one or listening to another. This shows everyone that you have good self esteem and are not afraid to meet new people. Next is speaking clearly and not mumbling.
Everyone always wants to be Friends with the new kid if they seem interesting, because they've got new stories to tell, different interests etc. But let's look on the other side of the coin. Your son or daughter enters a new school, head down, slouching and unable to eye contact when new children are trying to make conversations, of course the new children are going to think, no point talking to them, not interesting so your child becomes friendless. Who is going to be interested in your child? The BULLY.
The secret to confidence is if you don't have it yet, fake it until you DO.
you can easily practise building confidence in your child at home by making your child always hold good eye contact with you when talking. do not answer their questions if they look at the floor; encourage them to look at you. Show by example by walking tall yourself. When you take your child to a shop for something i.e. sweet shop, get your son/daughter to ask question and speak to the sales personnel.
I'm not saying a child with confidence will not get bullied, but a confident child has a better chance.
A GOOD chance is BETTER than NONE!
The best advice if of all is to find a excellent martial art school for children, not one that concentrate on teaching punching and kicking but life skills, Good manners "yes sir" morning sir", learning courtesy, learning how to believe in themself and of course simple conflict avoidance techniques too.
for more information on confidence building, anti - bullying and children's self defence please email info@solomartialarts.co.uk or visit my site http://www.solomartialarts.co.uk/
Article written by Mr Darren Hunter
Founder of Character Development Martial Arts programme for children.
A professional martial arts and self defense teacher