Archive for February, 2010
His parents are divorced, and he is depressed. The school kids are making fun of him, and he is having some problems. I want to teach him self-defence, but he is a little young. What are some good self defence things to teach him?
i have a six year old son, and im a single mum. every once in a while my son gets picked on a bit, but luckily not too bad (touch wood) as he is confident and his good looks dont hurt either as that seems to deter bullies, least with boys. also, alot of the cooler bigger kids stick up for him if the smaller ones try it on, though i do tell my son to fight his own battles.
i have taken my son to childrens kickboxing, which was brilliant, i box with him, i am his sparring partner, i have him hit me as hard as he can, i teach him how to hook, jab, keep his guard up, etc. and how to kick where it hurts. ive also taken him to street dance, which isnt self defence but it is confidence building.
so, id say, get him out there and get him into these classes, and dont let him try to cry his way out. tough love will do him a favour later in life. the worst thing you can do is to just tell him to ‘ignore’ the kids or not do anything as far as teaching him how to fight. desensitise him to fighting, but teach him the discipline to not abuse it – eg not to start fights, but to be able to fight back if someone starts with him. lots of young kids are hesitant to throw a punch, as teachers, ‘bless’ em, tell them its wrong and punish them, even if its self defence, which is why bullying is so bad at schools. teachers have a f**k of alot to answer for. they wash their hands of it, and some of them even encourage it cos they’ve got their own issues about their own childhoods… so its down to your cousin and you and his parents to sort him out.
my own son has been mildly punished twice for fighting back (punished by the teacher), and as we walked away from the school gates after the teacher told me my son had punched a boy, expecting me to be mortified, I high fived him as i knew he were just fighting back. my son is not a perpetrator. but he will normally stand up for himself if someone starts with him, so i reward him for doing so. one of his punishments by this teacher was to not allow him a slice of someone’s birthday cake on the day, so straight after school we went to tescos and bought the same kind of cake, and ate it together.
also you can try martial arts, they have classes for six year olds.
i would also go head on with the kids making fun of him, if you can. u didnt say how old you are, but if youre still young, get in those kids faces and tell them to leave ur cousin alone or you will be dealing with them…police wont do anything, after all, youre young, and you didnt outright threaten them with violence.
if the parents are any good, they will also do whatever they can to boost his self esteem. six is too young to be depressed, that is bad. make sure it doesnt get worse. it it does, (the depression), tell a GP, even if the parents dont want to.
give him a hug from me and tell him to keep his chin up. and make sure his parents arent putting him in dorky clothes or shoes x