View Single Post
Old 02-23-2014, 10:47 AM   #19
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
United_States
Offline
Re: Which Martial Art for Kids - Aikido / Taekwondo / Karate / Judo ...

Quote:
Brett Duncan wrote: View Post
I think that it is important for parents (and martial arts instructors) to understand that bullying not only takes a variety of forms, but also occurs for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it stems from kids who haven't learned to control their temper, sometimes from bad modeling (there are some parents out there who have a lot to answer for), sometimes it's about the "pecking order", sometimes it originates in a child's insecurities and lack of understand of how to deal with that, and sometimes it's because the individual doing the bullying is simply a nasty piece of work.
...or some combination of the above. You know what surprises me? People who want answers about martial arts and self-defense, and yet are unwilling to consider the question of the attacker's motivation. No, OP, I'm not looking at you -- this happens in just about every thread about martial arts in self-defense situations. "Will xyz martial art help me defend myself?" is not a question that can be answered, unless you can say what you're defending against -- and "what" includes not just the number, size, strength and skill of the attacker, but the attacker's motivation. Do they want your wallet, or do they want you dead? Likewise with the child who's being bullied. Force vs. force is such a small part of self-defense, and yet it's all that most people are willing to think about when such discussions come up. How can anyone claim to be seriously searching for a solution to a real problem with that approach?
  Reply With Quote