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Cyber Bullies
By Teri Brown
Randal believes that teens are held back only by a lack of creativity. One of the latest ways to bully is with camera phones. Pictures taken on a camera phone are then altered to make the victim look different. Web sites are set up and can stay up for years with negative information about anyone.
Parents should be on the lookout for the typical signs that a teen is being bullied: a lack of interest in school, a drop in grades, abrupt changes in friendships, isolation, etc. Remember that cyber bullying often takes place in the home, maybe even a few feet from where a parent is standing.
A telltale sign that your teen is being cyber bullied is if she becomes highly emotional or shows signs of stress after receiving text messages on her cell phone. If she is being bullied via the Web, then such an emotional state might occur when she is browsing a Web site or opening instant messages.
Randal says that the first step in putting a stop to the bullying is open communication. "Please do not blame your child, take away their Internet access, phone or punish them for being the victim," he says. Too often parents believe these things will stop the bullying when in truth it just makes the teen feel as if he is being penalized. Your child needs you on his or her side to help with solutions.
"We do not want the child to withhold information because they're afraid of our reaction," Randal says. "Parents will want to teach their child to never give out personal information online, don't share your passwords or user names and never answer harassing messages." These messages should be saved as proof for the police, the Internet provider and the school administration.
