Tips For Parents

Conversation Starters...

What does bullying mean to you?
What is lunch time like at your School? Who do you sit with, what do you do, and what do you talk about?
What’s it like to ride the school bus? Tell me about it.
Have you ever been scared to go to school because you were afraid of being bullied? What have you done during those times?
Now that we are talking about bullying, what can I do to help?
What do you usually do when you see bullying going on?
Would you be willing to tell someone if you had been bullied? Why? Why not?
What are some good qualities about yourself? Let’s talk about why it’s so important to feel good about yourself.

Focus on your child. Be supportive, listen and gather information about the incident. Try doing an activity while talking such as walking, baking, or riding bikes.
Never tell your child to ignore bullying. What your child may “hear” is that you are going to ignore it. If your child were able to simply ignore it, he or she likely would not have told you about it. Often, trying to ignore bullying allows the situation to become more serious.
Contact your child’s teacher or principal to report bullying and to find out about the school’s bullying prevention plan. Gibe specific details and then ask for the next steps from this school. Follow up.
Keep your emotions in check. Give factual information about your child’s experience of being bullied, including who, what, when, where and how
Help your child become more resilient. Talk to your child about being friends with certain people and knowing which friendship or she can count on. Support positive relationships by encouraging them to hang out with kids that make then feel good about themselves.

Ask your child questions, maintain an open dialogue
Keep computer in a common room
Talk about your expectations regarding acceptable online phone behavior before they receive the privilege. Behavior online should be the same as what you would do in person or in front of someone you respect.
Make agreements and set boundaries about accepted use and behavior for online/phone communication. Often youth don’t tell parents because they fear losing technology privileges.
Help child think through how the information they put online reflect on them.
Inform youth about legal limits and future consequences of harmful posting online or by phone
Ask you child to teach you about programs and technologies you don’t understand or of which you don’t have familiarity.

Keep yourself safe
Get help. Tell a trusted adult if you see someone in trouble
Support the target. Ask them to join in a activity with you (let’s go..do you want to go get a drink of water?)
Distract Tell the aggressor you don’t like talking about people or change the subject
Reason with the aggressor. “You might get into trouble, if you keep bothering that person” or “you might get kicked off the basketball team and we really need you.”
Support the person who is being bullied (help them pick up their books, take them to someone who can help, there is power in numbers – just stand beside the person, or ask other friends to support the person

Don’t initiate respond to, or forward harmful messages
Think! If something mean is posted or texted about you, don’t respond immediately, take a breath and five yourself time to think through your next step. Don’t react immediately
Think about your reputation – would you want your grandma, teacher, future employer, someone you don’t know to see that?
Privacy – Keep intimate and personal info – private
Trust your gut – If you feel uncomfortable – save and tell an adult
Be safe – Don’t meet unknown internet friends without talking to your parents or another adult about it.

Never respond to harassing or rude comments.
Save or print the evidence.
Talk to your parents or guardian if you are harassed; get help reporting this to your ISP, school, or local law enforcement.
Respect others online.
Only share your password with your parent or guardian.
Change your passwords often.
Password protect your cell phone.
Use privacy settings to block unwanted messages.
Think before posting or sending photos – they could be used to hurt you.
Contact the site administrator if someone creates a social networking page in your name.