Karate Lincolnshire

Anti Bullying

Before we can do anything about it, we must understand what bullying is and why it occurs.  At Karate Lincolnshire we teach the Lil’ Dragons A-B-C of Bully Defence.  There are five sections to this topic and the first is titled “What is a bully?”.  We discuss what actions constitute bullying (both physical and mental) and the different types of bully.  We then go on to use role playing exercises to show and demonstrate the psychology behind it, giving the children a good understanding of how and why it happens.  We have a cool “Bully or Friend” game that we play at the end to help them identify and respond accordingly.

Preventing Bullying!

Bullies tend to target kids who appear weaker and are less likely to fight back or put up any resistance.  In the second section we do an exercise called “Walk tall, Talk tall!”.  We basically go through body language and posturing as well as voice control.  Not all children are naturally confident, but it is possible to fake it whilst we are working to boost their confidence in normal classes.  This section serves to make them less of a target in the first place by making them appearing more confident and less likely to put up with it!

Avoiding the bully!

This is the point where we actually start on the “A-B-C” of bully defence.  Avoiding means just that.  A lot of bullying incidents are opportunity driven, whereby the bully doesn’t actually seek out the victim, but does it when an opportunity is presented e.g. when the intended victim happens to be nearby with no adult in sight.  As well as trying to keep a wide berth there are other things that can be done.  Making friends is a great thing to do.  Firstly there is the safety in numbers aspect but also someone with many friends appears more confident making them less of a target as previously mentioned.  Also we teach them how to walk away and ignore horrid gestures.  Again this finishes with a neat exercise called “mirroring” which teaches children how to move around a potential bully and evade contact.

Bargain with the Bully!

This basically means to reason, using words to diffuse a situation.  It involves tactics such as using trickery to get away, reasoning and standing up to the bully.  Often the tactics put the bully on the spot and so they leave.  It can serve to make the bully see him/herself in a different position and change altogether.  Again exercises at the end in the form of defective movement, blocking and defensive combinations are taught to augment what has been learnt.

Control the situation!

This part deals with what to do when it goes beyond name calling and gets physical.  Students are given tactics to prevent a fight, when and how to get help from an adult and attracting attention.  The final part which as an absolute last resort is to take a fighting stance.  Again they are taught how to do this with confidence as well as being made aware of potential consequences.

There is no fool-proof approach to bullying or a prefect antidote.  There is no tactic or strategy that will work 100% of the time.  Very often a combination of the thins we teach are going to be needed.

If you would like to find out more, why not book a FREE trial at one of our regular classes where you can discuss any concerns you may have regarding this subject.

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