Together we can stop bullying!
And, parents, that means we need to work together.
Our goal is for every one of our students to develop the confidence to stand up to a bully, and for none of our students to ever BE a bully.
The reality, though, is that every successful martial arts school - just like all aspects of life - is made up of many students, who all have different personalities, backgrounds, experiences, behaviors, and reasons for choosing to learn martial arts.
One of the statements in our student oath is:
"I shall never misuse taekwondo."
And one of our tenets is:
Integrity
(which means that a person will do the right thing even when no one is watching).
We want students to develop the integrity to never misuse what they learn in our program.
Parents, what can YOU do?:
-model integrity, respect and courtesy
-if someone tells you your child is using bullying behaviors/language - even if it seems like the most impossible thing ever - consider that it may be true (there is no one reason a kid bullies others and no one type of child that is a bully or type of family that causes a child to be a bully; and many bullies are very respectful & courteous & friendly when adults are around)
-if your child is a student of ours and IS bullying others, it's important that you let us know so we can talk with them and help develop a plan to change that behavior; allowing even one of our students to misuse taekwondo and to bully others is counter to all our program goals
-if your child is BEING bullied, is fearful of standing up for themselves, wants to quit activities to avoid a bully, etc. let us know so we can work on that confidence and help them stand up for themselves
Both those being bullied and those doing the bullying need help, and we can only do that if you let us know.
Together we CAN build a more peaceful world.