Self Defense Skills are VERY Important !

"Learning physical self defense helps most children become more confident, even if they never have to use these skills in a real-life situation. Just being more confident helps children to avoid being chosen as a victim most of the time."

Being left out Hurts !

Being left out is a major form of bullying. Exclusion should be clearly against the rules at school. A child can practice persisting in asking to join a game.

Pretend to be a bully who wants to exclude.

Have your child walk up and say, “I want to play.” Coach your child to sound and look positive and friendly, not whiny or aggressive.

Ask your child the reasons that kids give for excluding him or her. Use those reasons so your child can practice persisting. For example, if the reason is, “You’re not good enough,” your child can practice saying “I’ll get better if I practice!” If the reason is, “There are too many already,” your child might practice saying, “There’s always room for one more.” If the reason is, “You cheated last time,” your child might practice saying, “I did not understand the rules. Let’s make sure we agree on the rules this time.”

Using your Voice !

Using Your Voice

Yelling and speaking up loudly calls attention to a bullying problem and can help to prevent it from becoming worse.  Suppose your child has somebody who is trying to push or hit or knuckle her or his head. You can practice by holding your child gently and very carefully acting as if you about to do this.

Coach your child to pull away and yell NO! really loudly. Coach him or her to say “STOP! I don’t like that!” Coach your child to look the bully in the eyes and speak in a firm voice with both hands up and in front like a fence. Teach your child to leave and go to an adult for help.

If the bully does not stop, coach your child to yell for help.  For example, “STOP! GET OUT OF MY WAY! HELP! GET THE TEACHER!

2. Leaving in a Powerful, Positive Way

2. Leaving in a Powerful, Positive Way

The best self-defense tactic is called “target denial,” which means “don’t be there.” Act out a scenario where maybe your child is walking in the school corridor (or any other place where he or she might bullied). You can pretend to be kid who is acting aggressively by standing by the wall saying mean things. Ask your child what these mean things might be because what is considered insulting or upsetting is different for different people, times, and places. If you can’t think of what to say, just point your finger at the child and yell, “BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!”

Coach your child to veer around you when you are pretending to bully in order to move out of your reach. Remind your child to leave with awareness, calm, and respectful confidence, glancing back to see where the “bully” is. Let your child practicing leaving in an assertive way saying something neutral in a normal tone of voice like “See you later!” or “Have a nice day!”  Point out that stepping out of line or changing seats is often the safest choice for getting away from someone who is acting unsafely.

http://www.kidpower.org/library/article/prevent-bullying/?gclid=COnT0bb_zL4CFTAV7Aod1hMA-g