As you and your child keep practicing these skills of focusing and refocusing, your child will learn how to do this all on their own. It’ll become second nature the more you practice it. Like we mentioned before, these skills don’t just apply to tantrums. A strong foundation of life skills give an incredible advantage when it comes to schoolwork, learning in a classroom, and becoming a responsible person as they get older. These early years of ages 3 and 4 really are where the habits of success are formed, however you define success- and martial arts is such a fun and rewarding way to build those habits the right way! The transformations we see in our youngest kids year after year is really what motivates us and drives us in our preschool classes. Come see for yourself how martial arts classes can change your preschool-aged child’s life and make a more peaceful home
Confidence Helps Against Bullying at School
The cool thing about martial arts is that once you and your child keep practicing these skills of emotional regulation and self control, your child will naturally start to internalize it. They’ll start applying these skills all on their own. And the more you practice, the more intuitive it’ll become. Like we mentioned before, these skills don’t just apply to tantrums. A strong foundation of life skills give an incredible advantage when it comes to getting their homework done, being in a classroom environment, and being a part of the family as they grow older.
These early years of ages 3 and 4 really are where the habits of success are formed, however you define success- and martial arts is a FUN and purposeful way to build those habits the right way! Year after year, we’re inspired and motivated by the transformations we see in the behavior of our preschool students. Come see for yourself how martial arts classes can change your young child’s life and make a more peaceful home!
Teaching Confidence in Our Martial Arts Classes
You may be asking yourself- Can your child actually learn how to stop bullying at school through martial arts? YES! We teach kids confidence-building by strengthening their internal self-talk (which we’ll cover in just a second). We also show them how to plan and achieve the goals they set for themselves. As your child ascends through the belt ranks, they’ll see their efforts produce big wins, and become really proud and confident when they’re consistently hitting those goals.
That excitement of achievement, and the way we practice respecting and listening to others, will help them gather the internal strength to feel confident in standing up to any bully that crosses their path on the playground, in the classroom- or even in their own head. Plus, we show our students the almighty power of positive self-talk. “Self-talk,” also known as mindset, refers to the way that kids address themselves in day-to-day life. This self-talk can either be encouraging and positive, or discouraging and negative, and we teach our students the former to keep their confidence blossoming.
Positive Self Talk to Combat Bullying
Martial arts isn’t always easy, especially for kids. They are just starting the process of learning hand-eye coordination, focus, balance, and motor skills (which martial arts classes expedite, by the way, giving your child a competitive advantage in school ). When they’re struggling to get a certain combo right, they can start to think, “I’m dumb. I’ll never learn this. I’m failing. I don’t want to try again or else I’ll just embarrass myself.” But our world-class instructors are quick to intercept this, teaching positive self-talk.
We show students how to have a success-based mindset : “I’m trying. I’m proud of myself for trying. Yes I can, and yes I will. I will not give up until I succeed.” As anyone who’s been bullied knows, bullying can really get you down. Oftentimes, a bully will pick on things that a child is most insecure about. Building that positive self-talk in class will not only help a child become more confident to stand up to the bully, but it can start to heal some of those wounds that repetitive negative comments create in our kids.
Nonviolent Ways to Stand Up to Bullies
Lastly, of course, is the actual self defense piece that martial arts is famous for. Don’t worry- martial arts will not make your child violent or aggressive, or promote high kicks and punches aimed at their brothers, sisters, or peers. They will not become a bully themselves! Instead, martial arts the way we teach it, will help your child learn how to use other tools in their toolkit to diffuse an elevated situation, like a bullying experience, using nonviolent methods of conflict resolution.
From day one, we show students that physical self defense is only to be used in emergency situations. It’s a good thing to know you can pull out when needed, but it’s not going to be your first go-to when you’re dealing with a bully. Instead, we show students that their words and confident actions are their best defense against bullies. When they have straight posture, they exude confidence- remember, a confident child is 90% of the way to bully-proofness!
The bully will be taken off guard as they’re used to someone who backs down easily. We also teach our kids that martial artists use their voice to stand up for themselves and others. Bullies choose targets who seem shy or easily bothered- “the lamb”. We show our kids that they can be lions! Strong, courageous, and steadfast leaders who aren’t afraid to do what’s right, without having to take the claws out.
Stop Bullying at Your Child’s School
If your kid is having a hard time with a bully – let us help you. In special cases like this, we spend time with you and your child to make an individualized roadmap for success in addressing the bullying and help your child regain their confidence. Every student is different, and we’ve helped hundreds of kids become confident bully-proof leaders. We want to help your child too! Check out our risk-free trial on kids martial arts to get your child on the right track.
