Children's inability to stand up to a bully is rooted in profound fear for their personal safety. The victims know that they must confront the bully and would like nothing more than to stand up to them. But, they simply can't follow through for fear of the physical harm that backs the bully's every action. And, therein lies the challenge – how do you instill in a victim of bullying the confidence to face the tormentor, look them in the eye, and back them down? The answer is simple – teach the victims to defend themselves against physical attack, and the rest will follow.
Martial artists will tell you that the best prepared students are the least likely to find themselves in a fight. People who have the confidence to deal with physical aggression not only possess technical skills for neutralizing an attack, but also exude confidence in their bearing and mannerisms. These people are both less likely to be attacked and, interestingly, are less prone to initiate a fight because they have nothing to prove. This especially applies to children during their vulnerable formative years. For these reasons, millions of parents enroll their children in martial arts programs.
Fighting Fire with Water
Most martial arts programs rely on striking the attacker with punches, kicks, knees, and elbows. Martial arts that rely on strikes provide no way to control the level of violence: "You punch me, and I'll punch you harder. You push me and I'll kick you in the head." While a strike may have its place in a life-threatening street fight, it has no place on the playground and will always do more harm than good. Essentially, you're fighting fire with fire. It is unnecessarily violent and rightfully unacceptable to school authorities. It can even turn victims into bullies.
In the Gracie Bullyproof program, we take a different approach. All the techniques are purely defensive and utilize no strikes. Furthermore, we teach children how to defuse confrontations with words and never to initiate physical aggression. If attacked, we offer techniques to non-violently neutralize the threat and gain control until help arrives. In the Gracie Bullyproof program, we teach the children how to fight fire with water.
How It Works
If you are fortunate enough to live near a Gracie Bullyproof Certified Training Center, we highly recommend that you pay them a visit and see what this life-changing program can do for your child. If not, you can bullyproof your child from home with the Gracie Bullyproof distant learning program. Simply put, we teach you, the parent, how to teach your child the Gracie way, so you can complete the entire program from your living room!
With the distant learning program, you can choose to access the lessons on DVD or online through this website via streaming video format (the lessons are exactly the same in either case). You will start by watching the Parent Preparation Course, which will teach you everything you need to know to effectively instruct your child. Absolutely no experience is necessary, from parent or child, to get started. Each of the lessons, or "Gracie Games" featured in the program, are designed to be viewed by both you and your child. All the techniques are demonstrated with children from various age groups – 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12 years – so that you know precisely what to expect from your child. Once the technique is understood, you and your child will practice together in a fun, encouraging way. After your child is comfortable with the technique, you will move on to the next "level" where new details will be added and the intensity will increase ever so slightly. This process will continue until your child completes the curriculum and is ready to move on to the next level. The success of the Gracie Bullyproof program rests on the fact that anyone can do it without previous experience, and the program is fun for everyone involved.
Bullyproof Belt Promotions from Home
After the very first lesson, your child will love the Gracie Bullyproof program. Their confidence will grow noticeably with every new technique. They will love watching the videos of their enthusiastic, playful and funny new "jiu-jitsu uncles," Ryron and Rener Gracie. You will track their progress, and every 20 lessons, you will issue them a “stripe” on their belt (see Gracie Bullyproof Testing Information for details). Once you child has earned four stripes (80+ lessons), they will be eligible to test for belt promotion. To do this, you will digitally record your child performing a three-minute “Bully Battle” in which they demonstrate all their techniques on you, the parent. The video will be uploaded in the Testing Center, so it can be reviewed by a certified instructor. If your child’s performance meets Gracie Unversity standards for a student of comparable age and experience level, he/she will qualify for an official belt promotion. You will be notified via email and we will send you the official belt and promotion certificate in the mail!
Not only will your child develop unshakable confidence, but their discipline and work ethic will grow exponentially with every belt promotion. Perhaps the most important benefit of all is that you will have the opportunity to have fun, exercise and bond with your child in a way that you never have before. Gracie Bullyproof will transform your child from the inside out!
Get Started for Free: To get started, all you have to do is create a free student profile, and you’ll get instant online access to the complete Parent Preparation Course. This will teach you everything you need to know to teach your child from home, so you can get started right away!
What Parents Are Saying: See video testimonials from parents who are using the Gracie Bullyproof program to instill confidence in their children.
Bullyproof Summer Camp: Each year, the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu University hosts a one-week Gracie Bullyproof summer camp in Torrance, California for children between the ages of 6 and 14. Absolutely no experience is necessary to participate, and this camp is life changing for everyone who attends. To learn more about the upcoming Bullyproof Summer Camp, click here.
Sponsor a Bully Victim: Every day, we receive scholarship applications from parents of bully victims who cannot afford to provide their children with the necessary training to overcome the harassment. If you’re interested in sponsoring a bully victim to go through the Gracie Bullyproof program, click here.