Back in Part 4 of our Break the Cycle of Bullying series we laid out some general guidelines to how bullies act, a bit behind their mentality, and what forms it can manifest itself in. Previously in the series it was also touched on as to what you and your child can do to help put bullying in its place.

The benefits your child (and well, even yourself!) can receive from martial arts training are numerous.

They can boost your child's confidence and this allows them to deal with stressful situations much more gracefully. It makes it easier to deal with bullies and other tough situations in their life. A child with a high self esteem won't be bothered as much by a bully's petty attempts to get a negative reaction from them. They will have the focus to see the situation for what it is and the understanding in realizing that it only has a negative effect on them if they LET it.

And should the unthinkable happen and your child is assaulted by another student, they will have the skills they need to protect themselves.

More importantly your child will learn how to deal with these situations using age appropriate techniques, and they will learn when and where its appropriate to use their self defense training.

You can read more about the children's program at Fight Club Martial Arts here.

When it is all said and done, there are two lessons I'd like you and your child to walk away from this with:

1.) The decisions you make now affect you later in life.

2.) Look for someone who needs a friend.

Here are links to the other four articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

- Dan Sorber is the owner and instructor at Fight Club Martial Arts in Rehoboth Beach. He is ranked an advanced instructor in both Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai and has studied numerous other styles including Wing Chun, Shaolin Lohan, Tae Kwan Do and Isshinryu Karate. He can be reached at 302-396-7438 or fightclubmartialarts@gmail.com
His school offers martial arts lessons in both Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai and instructs all ages. He is available for seminars and Bully Proofing workshops