Are you concerned that your child is bullied at school? That can be one of the worst stresses for a parent to manage. In this blog, we’re going to help Northville, Novi, and Plymouth families learn a little about how kids’ karate can help children learn to deal with bullies.
What Kinds of Bullying Can Kids’ Karate Help?
There are six types of bullying: physical, verbal, cyber, relational, prejudicial, and sexual. Kids’ karate can help with all of these by increasing your child’s self-esteem and self-confidence. However, kids’ karate is especially good at dealing with physical and verbal bullying.
Here’s how:
How Kids’ Karate Helps With Physical Bullying.
Physical bullying runs the spectrum from pushing and shoving to serious bodily harm. And, it’s what most of us think of when we think of bullies. No parent wants their child to be physically injured or live with the fear of being accosted at school.
When you sign your child up for kids’ karate, they will learn the fundamentals of self-defense. That means things like how to keep their balance if they get pushed, how to evade a punch, how to escape a headlock, or get out from underneath someone. And, they’ll learn how to go on the offense, if they need to, with basic striking and grappling moves.
More importantly, kids’ karate will teach your child how to advocate for themselves. The way they speak to their potential bully, the way they hold their posture, and the way they make eye contact can go a long way to them never being bullied in the first place.
This empowered demeanor is backed up by their physical ability to protect themselves. It’s incredible how giving your child some physical skills, along with permission to use them, can powerfully impact whether or not a potential bully sees them as a target in the first place.
How Kids’ Karate Helps With Verbal Bullying.
Physical bullying is pretty rare in the Northville, Novi, and Plymouth areas. Verbal bullying, on the other hand, is not so rare. This can be anything from name-calling to ridiculing a child’s clothes or their parent’s car.
The critical thing to understand about verbal bullies is that they want a reaction from your child. They are looking for someone who gets angry or wounded due to the taunting. That’s what’s fun for them. What’s not fun for them? Getting no response at all.
So, in kids’ karate, we teach children how to let the bully’s words be the proverbial water off a duck’s back. After all, you have to let the little stuff go when your little hands are certified deadly weapons, right?
Is Your Child Being Bullied At School?
If you suspect they are, we want to help. Please feel free to reach out to us at 248-349-6900 or by email at info@northvillemartialarts.com. Or, you can contact us here. Even if our kids’ karate program isn’t right for you, we’re happy to provide whatever advice and resources we can.
We also recommend checking out the Stop Bullying website.