By Laurel Busby
Staff Writer
The Renegade’s Guide to Stopping Bullies aims to help families put a quick end to bullying their kids may face.
James Gavsie, owner of Max Impact Martial Arts at 16632-1/2 Marquez Ave., wrote the 202-page e-book, available on Amazon for $9.95 (and soon to be released in print), to share techniques he gained not only through helping local kids address bullies, but also by handling bullies in his own childhood.
The book includes personal stories of his unique approach, which involves parents taking ownership of the issue and making certain to stop the bullying behavior immediately. After the bullying is stopped, Gavsie then recommends teaching the child various skills to use in the future.
It may seem difficult to stop bullying immediately, but one Gavsie technique has been particularly effective for his clients and also worked in his own childhood, when he dealt with intense bullying. He calls this method the bigger-shark theory, and it entails finding a powerful ally for the child, who can be there to make sure the bully will no longer bully.
In some situations, this might be an adult. For example, in his book, Gavsie describes meeting a kid at the bus stop, asking him to point out the kid who had been bullying him on the bus, then simply being there as a physically imposing man who the bully is now aware is watching him. In addition, he asked the kid to sit by the bus driver, so the bullying couldn’t happen without an adult being able to step in. After a few days, Gavsie no longer needed to meet the kid at the bus
stop and the kid could sit wherever he liked on the bus, because the bullying was over. At school, the bigger shark to protect a kid might be a popular older kid, who could be physically bigger but also could have the strength of popularity on his or her side, so the bully feels peer pressure to leave the kid alone.
“There’s no shortage of people who are willing to volunteer to help those who are being bullied,” Gavsie writes in his guide. “It just takes a degree of ‘out of the box’ thinking and social assertiveness to befriend such a person and then put the bully in his or her place.”
Visit renegadesguide.com for more information.
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