Stop Cyber Bullying

It may be easier than you think to learn how to stop Cyber Bullying and still let your child have a life online.

Who is Cyber bullying?

It is interesting to note most times the person who is a bully at school or on the playground is also the one bullying online. Those doing the research at first thought Cyber bullies would be different. They would be the kids who were less likely to do bullying in person and prefer to hide behind a screen name and anonymity. Studies have shown this is not true. Those who Bully in the school yard are the ones who choose to Bully online.

Monitoring is key

Cyber bullies believe they are protected and cannot be caught. They hide behind screen names and blocked numbers. Don’t fall for this. It may be scary but there are ways of stopping it.

As parents we need to monitor the various techno gizmos and gadgets. Find out where our children "hang out" online and be involved in their world just like offline. We can set up boundaries and guidelines with our children for their smartphone and in general for online activities. Discuss with them the various problems that can be created and understand cyber threats beyond bullying.

#1 Most important way to
stop cyberbullying

**Tell your child to show no reaction. Pretend nothing was received and completely ignore it. Do not reply.**

It will cause the Bully to get bored and move on or to try something new like a different type of bullying in which case you will discover who the bully is and be better able to problem solve how to stop the bullying all together.

Keep talking with your child. Talk about what they are doing on line and where they spend there time chatting..facebook...twitter..kik...??

CyberBullying is serious. Our children live a large part of their social lives online. So if this is where they are bullied it can effect there ability to maintain friendships causing isolation and loneliness.

Some cyber threats are pretty sneaky like "cappers" who wait in chat rooms for your kid to do something, say something, post a picture or video that is sexual in nature and BAM...next thing you know it is all over the internet and your child cannot escape.

So, no matter how embarrassing…guaranteed someone else has done it before your child. Experienced it and lived through it. We cannot Stop Cyber bullying alone. It is a cultural issue and the more people get involved the more chance there is of making it stop….

Online bullying is relatively new but the stats are soaring. Our kids are growing up in a totally different world. It is creating a new language and the guidelines are not easy to discern.

This is a very real concern. Cyber bullying can include verbal, physical and social bullying and given the amount of time young people spend online it is a major part of their lives and can have serious social implications.

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