Cyber Bullying and Your Kids

Cyber bullying is fairly common on the internet. Cyber bullying is more then just calling someone a "noob" which means you're new at something, but people tend to call someone a "noob" as an insult. People tend to cyber bully on an internet forum, Myspace, chat rooms etc. Cyber bullying could hurt your child's feelings, and your child might seem depressed. You should ask your child if he's being cyber bullied and why he's being cyber bullied.

Cyber bullies are usually kids that get made fun of and get beat up at school and take their anger out on other kids on the internet. Cyber bullies could join random internet forums or chat rooms and call someone swears that they don't even know what they mean and random insults. If your child posts their picture online, cyber bullies could find them and make fun of their picture saying their ugly, fat or other insults.

If your child is a cyber bully, ask them why they are doing this. Sometimes, they could just be doing it for fun, they are depressed, or being made fun of at school. Tell your child the kids that they are cyber bullying could feel hurt, and sad from your insults. Don't be alarmed if your cyber bully is using swears on the internet, as this is normal and they probably do not swear outside of the internet.

If your child is being cyber bullied, ask them if it hurts them and why they are being cyber bullied. You can try and stop your child from being cyber bullied, by telling them not to post pictures of themselves on the internet, follow the rules of the chat room or the forum, be kind to others and don't say anything to someone that will offend him or her self.

Cyber bullying is much more common than you may think. It may be happening everyday to your child, but they are not offended by it, or it could be happening often and they are deeply offended. Tell your child not to join sites that require a certain age to join, if they are younger then that age limit. For example: YouTube or chat rooms. Chatting online with their friends is okay, and if they make fun of each other, it's normal and they are most likely kidding around. You should tell your child that you're going to check their history every week and tell them never to clear it, so you can check and see if they are being offended online. After a few weeks of it not happening, tell them you're going to stop checking their history but check it anyway. Kids sometimes think it's an invasion of privacy, but it's the only way to know if your kid is not going to open out to you.