Cyber Bullying
This is the “Always On” generation. Everything talks to everything and kids can send things in a heartbeat from their phone, computer or hand held device.
But with this technology comes a new problem and form of bullying known as – cyber bullying.
Here are some tips to teach your children to prevent text bullying:
- 1. Always tell someone you trust what’s happening. Teach your kids to talk to you, a teacher, a carer or a friend so they will be able to find a way to stop what’s happening.
- 2. If they receive a nasty message teach them to keep a record and to save the messages– it’s actually against the law to make a threatening or offensive call, or to send a text or e-mail that’s really abusive or threatening. If it’s online on a message board teach your child to save a copy or print it off. The internet provider (ISP) will have a helpline to get rid of the message for you. This will all help the police or school to get to the bottom of the issue quicker.
- 3. Never reply to the bully or send an even nastier message back. Often bullies will send a message to get a reaction so tell your kids not to respond to it. Bullies often get bored and stop if they don’t get a response.
- 4. Take a break from your phone or computer. It’s a good idea to encourage your kids to take a break for a few days from their phone messaging and to keep off chat rooms for awhile as the bully will soon get tired and bored and stop.
- 5. Make sure only good friends and family are in your phone address or e-mail list. Teach your kids to not to respond to an ID that they don’t recognise and to only add people they know to their address books.
- 6. Don’t lend your phone to other people. Encourage your children to be careful if they lend their phone to someone or change their phone number and make sure they never give out their number in an internet chat room.
- 7. Change your phone number. If your child starts to get bullied they can go to their service provider and they can help by changing their phone number very easily.
8 Camera phones. It’s not possible to withhold a number when sending a photo from a mobile, so any photo your kids send or receive can be traced. A photo can be forwarded to other people or posted on the internet. So a picture sent to a small group of your friends might end up being seen by millions of people all over the world.
10. Talk to your children, teach them safety tips and try to understand the technology, their lifestyle and their problems. It’s important as a parent that you understand the new technology and don’t just put your head in the sand, but with a little bit of common sense you can ensure your child is kept safe from bullying.
Helplines. If your child is uncomfortable talking to you or wants to remain anonymous or needs some support or clarity there are a number of helplines that can offer free advice.
Childline 0800 1111
NSPCC 0808 8000 5000
Samaritans 08457 90 90 90
Sue Atkins is a Parenting Expert and Author of “Raising Happy Children for Dummies” one in the famous black and yellow series.
To download her free ebook on building confidence easily with children go to => http:/www.positive-parents.com
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