Cyberbullying
What is 'cyberbullying'?
Cyberbullying is where a child usually would take what they would do to bully you in a school-yard, which means threaten you or talk bad about you, or spread rumors about you. It is something to hurt your feelings or to hurt you physically or financially, and they'll do it on the internet. What they'll do, is they'll send you messages that are either threatening, and threaten you the same way they would verbally if they were standing in front of you. If they want to create rumors about you, they'll send it out in a broadcast fashion to all the other people in school, or try to bully you into doing something that they want you to do. Unfortunately, kids have actually committed suicide over the cyberbullying that goes on. They felt like they just couldn't live with themselves anymore because of rumors that were sent out by some bully over the internet about them. So it's a really serious situation.
How can I protect my child from 'cyberbullying'?
You need to know that they are being bullied. You are going to need to talk to your child and find out whether they are getting any objectional emails. If they've got a problem and they seem like they are upset about something, you need to start looking at their email and ask them if there is somebody that is sending out information that is causing you a problem. Sometimes, they will talk to you about it. I would definitely start with being able to communicate with your child. If you find out that they are being bullied, 'cyberbullied', you are going to need to get to the kid's parents that are doing that and sit down and have a chat with them and show them what emails their child is sending to your child or, in a lot of cases, what emails their child is sending about your child to all kinds of other people.
How do I know if my child is a cyberbully?
The way that you know if your child is a cyber bully is by reading their outgoing emails and finding out what kind of contact they are having with other people over the internet. Obviously, you may get a phone call from one of the other parents that says "your son has been sending my son emails and I don't like it". Do a little investigation. Don't just take that on it's face. Try to find out what emails they actually are. You are going to need to find out, either by having other parents tell you that it's a problem, other kids telling you that it's a problem, or by investigating yourself. If you suspect that your child might be one of these people who's doing it, you need to read their emails.
What do I do if i suspect my child is being harassed by a cyberbully?
What you're going to need to do is confront the bully and the parents. You're going to need to show your child that that is your job and you're there to protect them. When these types of things happen, it is the parent's responsibility. It's no longer the child's responsibility to handle that type of attack, so you need to go and confront the person who is sending the emails in the first place and talk to their parents about it.
