Headline: Schoolgirls Bullied Into Stripping Online
Bad enough, but imagine this:
The focus groups also revealed victims refuse to tell an adult about the abuse because they fear they will be punished in order to be protected.
“They’re scared that their parents will take away their computer privileges,” Mishna said.
Oy.
I keep imagining what the parents of those girls would think if they heard that. And this is, I think, more about parenting than anything else. And it’s about how we act. What we do teaches our own kids volumes more than what we say.
I won’t speak for other parents, so here’s what I’ve set as my own path for helping my own kids deal with the inevitabilities of this extremely complex and wide-ranging social issue.
- Talk to my kids about what bullying is.
- Start conversations about how to deal with being bullied.
- Help to empower them to stand up for themselves and others.
- Point out bias and objectification when I see it.
- Point out gratuitous violence when I see it.
- Point out victimization when I see it.
- Model appropriate responses to inappropriate contacts or content.
- Model empathy and inclusiveness.
- Model cooperation instead of competition.
- Model a peaceful presence in the world.
Fingers crossed…
Technorati Tags: stopcyberbullying
The superintendent of Palm Beach County schools has been on a crusade lately about this. He even sent out a phone message to all the households in the county with kids in school about online and instant message bullying. The message was pretty good–talk to your kids, monitor their online activities, etc. Nothing about eliminating technologies. But he has recently called for the banning of cell phones district-wide. I think he has tried this other tack recently because he got so much resistence on the ban idea.
Keep up the good work!
Tim
Here’s a sobering thought – some cyberbullies have children…
I think it is important to recognize that there was bullying before there was the internet. The internet just makes it that much easier to be anonymous when bullying. Will–I noticed that your list of things you are doing as a parent are pretty universal and will cause your kids to recognize bullying whether it is in cyberspace or in their neighborhood. Because of the anonymity of cyberspace, these conversations become more important. Kudos to you for starting those conversations with kids.