By Michelle Bashton, LSW
I recently went to a workshop for parents and mental health providers about bullying. The workshop focused on cyberbullying mostly, which is a relatively new phenomenon that has only been researched for the last ten years or so. In fact, cyberbullying is so new that it’s still quite a foreign concept to me, and I’m in my late 20s. It makes you nostalgic to think about the days where bullying stopped as soon as you stepped inside your house. For kids who are bullied today, they’re not safe anywhere. As the law is slowly catching up to technology, the Illinois legislation finally passed a law in 2010 which held schools responsible for bullying intervention, not only on school grounds, but in cases of internet bullying as well. See Illinois State Laws regarding bullying here - Illinois Bullying Laws. Below I’ve listed some great tips for cyberbullying prevention based on findings from the Cyberbullying Research Center.
5 Preventative Cyberbullying Tips for Parents:
1. Explain to your child that cyberspace IS the real world. The same rules apply for interacting with people on the internet as in real life. Writing a mean comment on someone’s page hurts the same as shouting the comment in a room full of people.
2. Educate your child. Your child may not be aware of some of the consequences of technology misuse, regardless of how obvious you might think it is. It’s hard to get rid of certain things on the internet once they are there. Misuse could lead to ruining their reputation, getting in trouble at school, getting prosecuted by the law, or even leading to another student’s injury or death.
3. Monitor your child’s online activities. This can be either active participation in online activities or through software, however the Cyberbullying Research Center warns:
“Use discretion when covertly spying on your kids. This could cause more harm than good if your child feels their privacy has been violated. They may go completely underground with their online behaviors and deliberately work to hide their actions from you.”
4. Look for warning signs. Warning signs are displayed both the perpetrators and the victims. Is your child becoming withdrawn? Is there internet usage obsessive?
5. Maintain an open line of communication with your child. Actively listen to your child, refrain from making overly judgmental remarks or immediately going into advice-mode. Also, let it be known that you are going to be an adult that will “intervene rationally and not make it the situation worse.”
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