re: 7yr Old Jumped at School - PG 9 Update

You did the right thing here. There was some good advice, some bad advice, and some typical OT entertainment.

I was bullied a good bit in elementary, and this was at a VERY small, expensive, private school. like 10-15 kids in a grade. My dad and I were absolutely nothing alike, and I have no shame in admitting that. He was a typical alpha male, but very intelligent, and played in the NFL. I'm the smallest person on my dad's side of the family by 6 inches, and I'm 5'10. He found out about and certain incident when someone shoved my head in a water fountain as I was drinking from it when I was in like 1st or 2nd grade. He sat me down and basically said "look at me, and I'm dead serious about this. I will never, ever get mad at you for defending yourself. Next time you see that ninja drinking from a water fountain you do the exact same thing. When he turns around to look at you, you punch him square in the nose, it will stun and blind him. When he grabs his nose, keep going on him until someone pulls you off". I did exactly what he told me, and it worked. No one ever skrewed with me again until middle school. He also taught me to pick my battles, there's nothing wrong with running away from a much bigger, or older, opponent. It's amazing to be so young that I remember that conversation so vividly. I never had a mean streak, and mostly stayed away from fighting unless it was absolutely a necessity. Teach your kid good values. Teaching him to fight all the time to solve his problems will just cause more problems later in life. I ended up being good friends with that same kid throughout high school, and unfortunately, he was the first friend of mine to pass away too young. Died of a heroin OD, we lost touch after college and he started running with the wrong people. It's a shame how quickly your life can in the wrong direction, even with good parenting, and a good education.

When I was in college I lived in a rather urban neighborhood for a year. It was mind blowing the shite those parents would have their kids do. Literally have seen five year olds in the street having their parents force them to box each other. There's nothing wrong with this in the ring, or in an actual gym, but ingraining that in a five year old in the street? wtf man. Most of the kids never wanted to fight, but im sure the more they did it they came to enjoy it in some weird way, and im sure they ended up being trouble makers and turning to violence at the drop of a hat later down the line.

Keep up the good work OP. If there's a boxing gym near you go meet with the owner/instructors and ask them their philosophy. If it's some thug, stay away, if the seem to have good values, enroll the kid. He'll learn good principles and learn how to defend himself. I never took krav maga, but I did box for seven years, starting in middle school. I enjoyed it, I wasn't great at it, but I could hold my own. When the badass golden gloves guy from the gym at our school started spreading word that I was holding my own when I sparred him the amount anyone messed with me went down significantly. It's amazing how word can spread so quick over something so insignificant. He'll make good friends with guys from all different backgrounds. When I transferred schools my senior year to a public school, a legitimate gang member was a friend of mine from the gym. All in all, he was a good guy, atleast to me. He was a typical thug, though. Always barred out at parties and starting shite just to do it, but since I knew him from the gym he always treated me well, and made sure none of the black guys ever fricked with me. It was pretty cool.