For many students, back to school time isn’t just a time for new binders, pencils and clothes. It’s a time for the summer break from bullying, both cyber and physical. Your children may not tell you of their fears about bullying as you prep them for another school year, so it’s up to you to ask the right questions and get in the game. Most students have some sort of anxiety about the beginning of a new school year and parents can help.
Bullying has been around forever, but when you add e-mail, blogs, instant messaging, and other electronic devices, it gives the bully new and powerful tools with entirely new dimensions. It can be a scary concept if you really think about it. The average rate of internet use, per household, climbs dramatically in the summer. When students return to school, the amount of time spent on-line may decrease but on-line behaviour seems to stay the same and can become more aggressive. With a new audience, bullies and cyber bullies can often escalate situations that seemed to dissipate over the summer. They can deliver accusations and threats 24hrs a day rather than during breaks and recess at school. Kids need strategies to combat bullies in the school yard just as they need a plan for on-line harassment.
It is time for families to support each other and take back the internet in their homes.
Come up with a family plan about how you will respond to cyber bullying.
As a family, come up with a plan that everyone can promise to stick to:
•Start with a conversation about cyberbullying — what it is and why people do it.
Encourage your children to report bullying to you. Don’t dismiss their problems and let them know that you will take action with them. They also need to know that if their strategies are no longer working, you will advocate on their behalf.
•Talk about how you as a parent will respond. Reassure kids that you won’t “freak out” (as hard as that may be) providing they are following the rules. Telling them to “turn off their phone”, or “stay off the Internet” doesn’t help. These connections are their lifelines to friends.
•Talk about, under any circumstance, bullying someone else or retaliation is not acceptable. Make it clear what the consequences will be
•Understand both your child’s school policy and its actual responses toward bullying
Some quick tips for kids
•Do not open e-mail or messages from someone that has been harassing you
•Delete comments on photo’s, walls and profiles…do your best to ignore them
•If you do read messages or wall posts, copy them, take screenshots or print them out
•Walk away from your computer and tell someone
•Block the person from MSN, Facebook or other social media
•Try not to engage in discussions at school the next day about comments that were posted
•Make sure to report any form of bullying. Take it seriously if you want it to stop
