In the USA, a study conducted by StopBullying.gov revealed that up to about 50% of all students between grades 4 to 12 have been at one point on the receiving end of a bully and over 70% admitting to witnessing bullying incidences in their schools.
Kids can sometimes be cruel to fellow students in school and this has directly been known to have damaging effects on the victim’s confidence, self-esteem as well as their academic performance. Parents may sometimes not notice or miss signs which indicate their child is being bullied. It can be a challenge to teach and help them regain their lost confidence considering confidence comes from within an individual. It comes with the self-assurance that your child has what it takes to tackle and overcome various challenges which aren’t really something you can gift your kids.
All in all, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) has proved to be one of the ways through which children can learn self-defense skills and in the process improve their self-confidence. Some of the benefits which kids can get from attending BJJ classes include:
Improved self-confidence.
More often than not, bullying has been found to take place when the other party doesn’t have enough confidence to stand up for themselves. BJJ will help kids obtain self-defense skills through their training, boosting their overall confidence which will, in turn, reduce their susceptibility to bullying ensuring they maintain high grades in school and have a good childhood experience.
It helps them to respect other kids.
BJJ lesson helps its students understand and accept the many differences which exist between various individuals. The lessons will expose kids to many different personalities and make them understand the importance of respecting differences between them while focusing on the amount of effort which each of them puts in during their course.
Enable them to have a self-esteem balance.
BJJ is an art whose lessons always have uncertain outcomes and your kids will fail in some and have to put in more work to get the concept and effortlessly succeed in some. This will help kids learn how to take success along with failure without hits to their self-esteem. Furthermore, children who take the lessons usually become comparatively humbler with unwavering confidence in their abilities which is important for their success in school and life.
Improved fitness, health, and wellbeing.
The BJJ lessons can be a very intense physical exercise and can be all the workout your kid needs for a healthy lifestyle. BJJ students usually look to improve their diets and partake in regular training and exercises. This ultimately leads to weight loss and improved confidence in your kid’s physical appearance which is important to them psychologically.
BJJ is stress-relieving.
Currently, life is proving to be stressful for both kids and adults creating a need to de-stress regularly. BJJ is an effective activity that can help your child to feel less stressed and more focused. BJJ is not only relaxing and fun but presents an opportunity for them to make new friends in the class. Furthermore, the lessons are beneficial in boosting confidence in themselves and their abilities that will help them to effectively, calmly and confidently handle difficult situations without necessarily stressing them out.