The only thing that I think we can do to combat cyberbullying is to dialogue with our kids at home and in school. WE can certainly check on their online activity at home in some instances but even then there is always the issue of time and being aware of what you can check on. Teens have much more free time than we as parents do.
Schools are becoming more cognizant of bullying in general and implementing anti-bullying programs. Ideally, an AUP or acceptable use policy should be created both in the home and at school. It should include possible consequences for cyberbullying. As the parent of a 15 year old and two elementary aged children, I've realized that the best thing I can do overall is teach him values. Ultimately, they will make mistakes (we all did) and there comes a time when we realize as parents that we can only protect them from so much. I'm a parent who happens to have gone to the nth degree in checking on my son and checking on a lot of what he did. It reaches a point where you can't police it all though.

Welcome Spyparent, I see from your Web site where you're coming from. And depending on the child, monitoring software is one good option. But what about kids who access the Internet at the library, friends' houses, on cell phones, etc.? They would benefit from an ongoing discussion about what’s appropriate online behavior wherever they are, since parents can't always hang over their child's shoulder (digitally).

Regards,
Maureen

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Maureen Kochan
ConnectSafely forum manager

ConnectSafely co-founder Anne Collier wonders about the term "cyberbullying" in her blog:

When some friends recently used the term in a conversation with their teenager, the basic response went something like: "Huh? What does this have to do with me? There's no lack of civility at our school." And yet just this year a teacher at that school was "trashed" by students in a social site. It just could be that "cyberbullying" is pretty meaningless to teens.

Anne says parents can avoid "cyberbullying" altogether and read up on some of the specific online behaviors and incidents in the news and talk about those, using them as "teachable moments" teens can relate to.

WDYT? How do you talk to your kids about on or offline bullying?

Thanks,

Maureen

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Maureen Kochan
ConnectSafely forum manager