The context:
One day after school, my six-yr old son shared with my husband and I about some of the boys giving him a hard time in class and this was not the first time. From what my son described, these actions started with name-calling to get his attention which turned into one of the boy poking him on his tummy when he didn’t respond. He said didn’t cry and told his teacher about what happened. I’m proud of how my son reacted in this situation compared to past experiences where he would burst out crying when being provoked. As a mum, I will always worry about my son’s safety (probably even till his adulthood), and the slightest incident of provocation to my son makes me grit my teeth and my heart starts pounding. I certainly don’t take lightly on what some people might call it ‘harmless, childish’ verbal banter by children because to me personally, I don’t want to assume that it didn’t hurt my son. I had my fair share of being bullied when I was in school and as a child, words do leave their mark and they stay with you much longer than some physical scars. I’m always in a constant state of flux as when to step in or whether I have given him enough advice and yada yada yada……..I mean my son is still 6 yrs old, there’s only so much content he can absorb (most of it is filled with either Minecraft, Skylanders Trap Team, Transformers and picking his nose). The other day, he did asked me to show him how to do some locks while watching some Aikido videos with me. “GASP! Mum’s not ready to cross that bridge yet!”
In the context of Aikido:
What would you consider acts of bullying or provocation on the training mat? Even though Aikido is non-competitive and non-combative (Art of Peace) people are people and no matter how much effort we try to put into our training physically, what aspects of Aikido principles do we consciously integrate into our daily lives? If we are being provoked on the mat, how do we handle it? It might be worth considering, the tolerance and level of patience one have. Personally, if I tolerated a particular behaviour that I might deem to be an act of provocation, does that make me susceptible to acts of bullying? If I walk away from a situation like that, does that mean I am walking away from the problem or is it my way dealing with the situation by removing myself from threat? The reason why I am asking this is because my perception of how I handle with negative situations may have directly or indirectly influence the way I advice my son on how he should approach such a situation. Hence, the Aikidomum dilemma……….to be continued.
My acrostic poem for the day:
Acrostic 5
Pieces of my soul scattered
Each fallen leaf like words
Actions that teased a wound
Cut open by words do not assume
Every step hurts
– love, siti
Acrostic Aikidoka 