I Never Let Anyone Bully Me, or My Friends!!

Sensei’s  Weekly Mokuso October 4th - 11th

Hello Parents,

We get very excited this time of year because we know we can really make a difference for our students, our schools and our community. At Keiko Dojo, we are very serious about our bully awareness and abduction prevention program.

There is another reason we get really excited, and can’t wait to teach your child how to fend off bullies . . . and it may be even more important than the reason you originally thought!

There really are two primary character traits we need to focus on and develop in your child:  The two are COURAGE and DISCIPLINE. We are working on the first one, courage, with this training theme. 

Here is the key to remember when developing courage.  “Kids can only learn by doing!” and “Courage can only be learned in the presence of FEAR!”

Without the emotional experience of fear, courage cannot truly be learned. Now this fear does not have to be intense or life threatening. Actually it is really the small fears and limiting beliefs that holds each of us back. It can be the fear of raising your hand, the fear of public speaking, the fear of meeting new people, or the fear of what others will think.

Shyness is a fear.....Anxiety is fear.

The one fear that we can use that your child probably encounters daily at school is the, controlling, or inappropriate behaviour.

In the past few weeks we laid the initial framework, and this month we are teaching your child to use this fear or hesitation of “standing up for themselves and others” as a way for them to develop courage.  It is an opportunity that already happens to them every day.  We can take advantage of this fear and repetition.  

We want to teach them to always act and do something, because if they just watch and become a “silent bystander” they actually reinforce their fear and will lose courage.

Everytime you face your fears, YOU get stronger . . . when your fears back you off your FEARS get stronger!

Parents, here’s the good news. When we do a really good job at teaching this to our students and children, they not only learn to protect themselves, they can protect, and teach their peers to help others too!!!!!!