You may or may have not heard recent talk about cyber bullying and cyber stalking. This is something real that is happening to adult bloggers. If it is scary for an adult, then you can imagine how it must feel for a tween or a teen to be a victim of such a thing.
Here are ten tips offered by Ellen Ohlenbusch, a mom who also happens to be President of McGruff Safeguard, on how to protect your child from being a victim of cyber bullying . . .
1. Keep computers in an open area – not in a child’s bedroom
2. Tell kids to keep passwords safe, private and difficult to guess – no pet names as passwords!
3. Don’t allow your child to maintain multiple accounts with alias names
4. Teach children to respect others online, as they would in person
5. Discuss bullying and the emotional impact it creates
6. Discuss what content is and is not appropriate to share online
7. Tell kids that what they post online is “out there” forever – they can’t control how other people will use their photos or information
8. Discuss how ‘piling’ on is not appropriate. That while they may not start something, if they see cyber bullying happening, they should not contribute.
9. Set a clear standard/example for your children to follow
10. Install a parental monitoring software that sends email alerts if cyber bullying is detected.
As a tool to assist parents, McGruff Safeguard offers a FREE parental monitoring software that analyzes emails, chats and IMs, and social networking websites. To learn more about this software, visit GoMcGruff.com .
Thank you to McGruff Safeguard and Middleberg Communications for providing the information shared in this article.
Great tips, Karen! So important too! We have a set of rules that my son has to follow, and definitely the computer stays in the living room. Much safer that way! :)
Posted on December 31, 2009 1:44 AM
Excellent tips, and I may add one more: If anything they see or read on a computer makes them feel uncomfortable or "weird", they need to speak to a parent or adult immediately !
Posted on December 31, 2009 11:35 PM
While these are some good tips, one thing I might wish to stress about cyberbulling is that one of the best ways to deal with it is to simply ignore it. It's the internet, after all, people can be pretty cruel on it at times, and c'est la vie!
Posted on January 1, 2010 6:46 AM
Thanks for the great tips! I'll keep in mind when my daughter is old enough to use the computer. I like the #1 tip. I think that is very important not to have computers in children's own room. It should in open are such as living room/family room.
Posted on January 3, 2010 11:03 AM
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