Last Updated on October 6, 2014.
A Bully gets stronger every time you don’t stand up to him. The Tiger Schulmann’s “Bully Shield” seminar teaches the three levels of bullying and the importance of stopping it as soon as possible. Please join us on Saturday October 18th at 1 pm at Tiger Schulmann’s MMA in Mount Kisco To learn how to stop a bully.
A bully lacks courage. A bully lacks confidence. If this were not the case than a bully would not try to raise their self esteem by stealing it from others. They feel better by making others feel worse because they don’t know any other way to feel good about themselves. It’s sad really when you think about it. No matter how sad it might make us feel it can never tolerated or accepted. It must be shut down as soon as a bully attempts to establish himself. If not is is only going to get worse. Let me explain.
We know that there are three levels of bullying. I wrote up about the first level a few days ago. Read it here. That is the testing stage. The bully is feeling you out. Checking to see if you’ll fight back. This will be the easiest time to shut the bully down. If you don’t then the bully feels empowered. They will figure you are weak and they can keep going. In this stage it gets worse. Where as in level one it was simple things like name calling and laughing at someone, in level two they actually start invading the victims personal space and touching them.
Some examples of level 2 bullying are bumping into someone on purpose, flipping someones hat off their head or maybe the bully cuts in front of you on a line. You see the bully feels safe knowing you didn’t stand up to them before. They figure that you won’t stand up know so what the heck. We can not allow the bully to get stronger. We must be assertive in our defense so that it won’t escalate any further. But how can a person do this? What does it take to stand up to a bully? I’ll tell you.
It takes confidence to stand up to a bully. Real confidence gained by real experience in martial arts. You are in a situation that may force you to fight back. If you’ve never been in this type of situation before you will panic, that is a fact. You will not understand how to deal with the emotional stress it causes. You will not be able to deal with the physical effects like adrenaline. Trust me when I say that you don’t want the first experience you have in martial arts to be in an uncontrollable environment like fighting a bully.
Kids that train karate, kickboxing or jiu-jitsu have faced these kind of challenges before. They have dealt with the stress and fear that come along with it. This experience provides them with real confidence that gives them the courage they need to stand up. They have competed and trained with kids the know to be much tougher and scarier than some bully. They have the power and will not allow it to be taken away. That is why I believe all kids should train in the martial arts. It not only gives them the tools needed to stop a bully but it give them a positive outlet to get aggression out so they don’t become a bully.
My seminar is on Saturday October 18th. It’s free and open to the public. If you have a child please bring them. Even if they are not being bullied at the moment it may happen in the future. Give them the tools they need to get the job done.