October is National Bullying Prevention Month, time dedicated to teachers, students, and martial arts schools to work together to end bullying.
A Statistic from StopBullying.gov states, “that nearly 30% of students in 6th through 12th grades report being the victims of bullying. More than 70% of students in those same grades say they’ve seen bullying at their schools.”
StopBullying.gov says bullying is behavior that includes:
An imbalance of power:
Kids who bully use power to harm or control others. Power can come in the form of physical strength, access to embarrassing information.
Repetition:
Bullying behavior happens more than once, or has the potential to repeat.
Bullying most often occurs in school, on the bus, and online through social media apps. The three main types of bullying are verbal, social and physical. Here are some examples of what the different types of bullying can look like:
Verbal – saying or writing mean things
- Teasing or taunting
- Name-calling
- Threatening harm
- Sexual comments
Social or relational – damaging another’s reputation or relationships
- Spreading rumors
- Intentionally embarrassing another student
- Excluding someone on purpose
- Telling other students not to be someone’s friend
Physical – hurting someone or damaging their belongings
- Hitting, kicking, pinching, tripping or pushing
- Taking someone’s things or breaking them
- Mean gestures and spitting
Martial arts teaches self-confidence, self-control and self-respect
Therefore, learning martial arts may seem like an obvious way to ensure your kids don’t become victims of physical bullying. As a result, they receive the self-defense training they need to protect themselves and fight back.
In addition, martial arts also equips our kids with another important tool for preventing bullying: Confidence. Students develop healthy self-esteem when they learn martial arts, which gives them confidence to stand up for themselves, without using force.
In summary, they learn self-control, how to be assertive, think on their feet when being picked on. When a student keeps their composure and doesn’t engage, a bully loses their power.
There’s one more characteristic martial arts teach that’s important to stopping bullying: Respect. Students learn to respect others and themselves. This means they’re less likely to tolerate being bullied or to bully others.
Get involved
In summary, organizations like STOMPOutBullying.org are raising awareness of National Bullying Prevention Month by hosting events throughout October. Martial Arts business owners and instructors can get their martial arts school involved and help put an end to bullying.
