You need to be there for your child when they are being bullied or feel threatened but you may not know where to start. Below are some straightforward ways to engage with your child and help them deal with the situation. It’s important to understand how they are feeling and not assume they are just overreacting.
Monitor your child’s online activity and understand what they are doing and who they are communicating with.
Communicate regularly with your children and have them share their profile pages on the different networks with you. Point out areas of risk and make helpful suggestions without arguing. Let them know you are there to help.
Understand how social networking sites work and which ones your children frequent. These are often changing so communicate regularly and stay up to date.
Make sure to build trust with your kids and set appropriate boundaries. Provide time limits and explain why they are in place. Discuss rules for internet usage and social network posting. Take your kids input and make them part of the process.
If your kid is being bullied be understanding and supportive of the situation. Do not overreact but do let them know it’s not their fault. Explain to them that you will work with them to solve the problem.
Also don’t brush it off as part of growing up or tell them they just need to deal with it. Being bullied is upsetting and can have long lasting effects that need to be dealt with.
Let your children know they should not to respond to cyberbullying threats or comments online. They should involve you and discuss how to handle the situation instead of just reacting to it. Do not delete the messages but make copies for your records in order to prove that cyberbullying is happening.
Work with school counselors or administrators to see what they may know and to see if they can keep an eye out for any bullying at school.
If there are threats involved or any violence you should get law enforcement involved.