In today’s “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” category, I would like you to read about how bullies target obese kids.
Um… no kidding, Sherlock.
I was bullied as a kid.
From 6th to 9th grade I really didn’t fit in anywhere. I was chubby, had acne, wore glasses, and I wasn’t any good in gym class. They called me names, drew nasty pictures of me, popular girls prank called me, and jocks punched me.
Looking back, I was probably one of the top 10 least popular kids in my class of 120 or so. It wasn’t any fun.
Bullying causes pain, anger, and resentment. So often in today’s society, we see so many acts of bullying the end in violence. Granted, I didn’t knife anyone, shoot anyone, or beat anyone up over it… but some kids do.
We need to educate our children and teach them how to avoid bullies, as well as how to avoid becoming a bully.
More than ever, victims of bullying nowadays tend to either take action against their perpetrators or simply end their own life. Those who don’t take action will go through life hating their junior high or high school peers, dreaming of revenge. You might not believe me if it never happened to do, but trust me: it’s true.
None of those outcomes are positive outcomes. Bullying never ends with a positive outcome, not for the victims or the bullies. In fact, bullies typically lose most of their friends as they progress through high school, and 1 in 4 bullies end up with a criminal record.
Therefore, I declare that fitness and nutrition can be used to help keep bullies and bullying tendencies away.
Use the following tactics to help you or your children avoid being bullied, or to try to inspire them not to bully anyone else:
- Exercise decreases fat mass, increases muscle mass, and can help improve sports performance, all of which will make you less likely to be the target of a bully.
- Strength training can improve self-confidence, which will help you stand up to a bully if necessary, but will also help you make friends easier. Kids with more friends are less likely to be bullied.
- The self-esteem that comes with progress from dedicated training will help your child feel secure, which means he or she will be less likely to bully others.
- Martial arts training can teach anyone how to defend themselves when they are physically bullies, and everyone knows that bullies hate to be beaten up by their victims.
- Proper martial arts training also teaches respect and loyalty. Kids should generally respect their peers and elders unless they are given a reason not to.
- Regimented exercise and proper nutrition teaches discipline, which helps to open a potential bully’s mind to the ideas of kindness and equality.
Help your children avoid or stand up to bullies by teaching them important skills that can be learned through training and nutrition. Help them to understand that they must respect animals, smaller kids, ‘nerds’, and other perceptibly weaker living things.
Be one of the few forces in society to stand up and take action against bullying. Coming from a self-proclaimed geek, we need all the help we can get.
Check out this resource on dealing with bullies, including 6 bullying survival tips on page 4.
Then swing by this great reference on cyberbullying: http://comparite.ch/lgbtqcyberbulling
