Bully Proof Your Child



Posted: Monday, June 26, 2006

by
JKD High Performance Street Fighting

What is bullying? Research on bullying in schools was conducted for the first time more than thirty years ago by Dan Olweus in Norway. From the literature review, it seems that bullying is a problem not only in Nordic countries, but also in among others the USA, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan. Although research on bullying since the 1980s has led to various international publications, little has been published on the subject in South Africa.

Olweus, one of the world's leading figure in research on bullying, defines bullying as follows: “a student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative action on the part of one or more students." Olweus explains the term “negative action" as follows: “a negative action is when someone intentionally inflicts, or attempts to inflict injury or discomfort upon another". A Dutch psychologist, Van der Meer, gives the following definition: “Bullying is a systematic, psychological, physical or sexual act of violence by a pupil or a group of pupils with respect to one or more classmates, who are not (any longer) in a position to defend themselves."

From the aforementioned definitions it is clear that bullying always includes the following three elements: the intentional use of aggression, an unbalanced relationship of power between the bully and the victim, and the causing of physical pain and/or emotional misery.

Although there are considerable similarities between bullying and other forms of aggression, a bully acts purposefully rather than accidentally. The aim of bullying is to get control over another person by means of physical or verbal aggression. Bullies attack without reason, except that they see victims as easy targets. Bullies are usually more popular among their peer group than children who are merely aggressive.

The following common examples of bullying can be identified:

Information taken from research done at the University of the Free State.



The Nature and Extent of School Bullying From the research it is apparent that learners are usually bullied by members of the same gender. However, not only boys are guilty of physical harassment: several boys indicated that one or more girls injured them physically, a number of girls were injured by members of the same gender. Some of the boys described in the open-ended question how they were kicked and beaten by other boys on a regular basis. One of them was kicked in the face regularly by his hostel roommate, he was too afraid to do something about it, because “his family was known for assaulting people". Another boy mentions that the bullies regularly put sand in his mouth. According to a grade 12 girl, learners are verbally bullied on a regular basis not only individually, but also as a group.

From this information it is evident that while some educators and learners are the witnesses of incidences of bullying, others are the victims and/or perpetrators of direct and indirect verbal, as well as emotional, physical and sexual bullying. In a twenty- first century climate of increasing concern for the rights of individuals and groups, be they due to race, sex, disability, religion, or sexual orientation, the right of the learner to be educated, but also the right of the educator to educate without suffering from victimisation is entrenched in the South African Bill of Rights. Every educator and learner in South Africa has the right to life, equal protection and benefit of the law, of dignity, as well as of freedom and security of the person (RSA, 1996: art. 9-12). These rights will only be realised in a bully-free school milieu.

What can We do?
Parents

Bullying is NOT a rite of passage - an undesirable, but sometimes unavoidable, reality of growing up. Rather, bullying is a serious public health issue that affects countless young people everyday. Further, research shows that the effects of bullying can last well into adulthood. Whether you are a concerned parent, an educator or school employee, a health and safety professional, or someone else who works with children, there are many things you can do to help.

The 'Bully Proof Your Child!' program was specifically designed to teach children to stand up to that bully, to give your child who may be bullied at school or by another adult, the confidence to say 'Enough already!' or if necessary to fight back. The bully normally only picks on guys or girls he sees who are trying to fit in, the quiet, no nonscense kind of boy or girl. The bully needs to know that he is not a hero trying to be an intimidation to others and that his behaviour is unacceptable.



Morné Swanepoel’s JKD High Performance Street Fighting is not just for fully grown Combat Athletes.

The class is energetically filled with music while they practice their High Performance drills. The importance of music enables the practitioner to keep the drill alive and the rhythm up. The kids relate to the music and it makes it fun to do the training.

Bearing in mind that the traditional karate schools originated in the East where it is part of their culture, the fact that the JKD High Performance Street Fighting is so adaptable to the Western culture really brings forth a positive point that one should never lose heritage – one can still be you and train martial arts.

Bruce Lee said: “Absorb what is useful and reject what is useless."

The way the kids train is the way they’ll defend themselves in the street. Their training consists of no boring and useless kata.



The kids get exposed to all ranges of combat and acquire street kickboxing skills, various defensive and offensive maneuvers from where they move on to the “clinching"range which is very similar to judo and stand-up wrestling encouraging partner work and building team spirit.

Then they study ground fighting, similar to wrestling but with a difference, as strikes, locks & chokes are explored in a healthy fun environment.

Interwoven with this is the development of self-discipline and self-confidence.

The children practice their focus drills against focus pads and punching bags.

The training is structured around performance orientation in an environment where their partner will resist them just as it will be in the street. The Kids then take these Functional and realistic concepts and apply what they’ve learned to their everyday lives.



For further information check out

www.jkd.co.za



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