My child is a victim of cyberbullying. What can I do as a parent?
1. Supervise your child's computer use.
2. Talk to your child. Do they know who the bully is? How long has the bullying been going on?
3. Avoid temptation to respond to the cyberbully. This may only escalate the situation.
4. At the first offense, ignore, delete or block the sender if you feel the offense is minor in nature.
5. Collect evidence, see below.
6. If a fake or offensive profile targeting your child is set up on a social media site, contact the site and report the offense.
7. Escalate your response if the threat to your child worsens.
8. If the perpetrator is another student, share evidence with the school counselor.
9. Report cyberbullying to the police or cybercrime unit in your area.
10. If at any time your child is experiencing emotional distress or thoughts of self-harm, seek help immediately from a school counselor or health care professional.
2. Talk to your child. Do they know who the bully is? How long has the bullying been going on?
3. Avoid temptation to respond to the cyberbully. This may only escalate the situation.
4. At the first offense, ignore, delete or block the sender if you feel the offense is minor in nature.
5. Collect evidence, see below.
6. If a fake or offensive profile targeting your child is set up on a social media site, contact the site and report the offense.
7. Escalate your response if the threat to your child worsens.
8. If the perpetrator is another student, share evidence with the school counselor.
9. Report cyberbullying to the police or cybercrime unit in your area.
10. If at any time your child is experiencing emotional distress or thoughts of self-harm, seek help immediately from a school counselor or health care professional.
What evidence can I collect?
Save all emails, posts, messages that are sent to your child.
Save all evidence indicating that your child may be bullied. Keep digital and paper copies of any correspondence. Paper copies can be used as evidence if your computer is compromised by a virus or any documentation is lost through computer error or malfunction.
Take a screen shot of the text or message.
1. Hold down the Control key and the Print Screen keys at the same time.
2. Press the Control key and the letter C at the same time to copy the image on the screen.
3. Open a new document and paste the image into the document. This can be done by pressing the
control key and the letter V at the same time.
4. The screen shot alone will not be enough documentation in court. Collect additional information that
supports the screen shot includes the header or source information in an email.
Create a Google Alert.
A Google Alert will allow Google to notify you when a key word or phrase has been used on the Internet. It is wise to do an Internet search using an online search engine such as Google. Through conducting a search using your child's name you can determine if there is any information about him/her on the Internet.
Block Instant Messenger.
Instant Messenger allows the user to correspond directly and immediately with another person on the Internet. Since there are different sites and social media tools that allow the instant messenger option, the help function available for the tool can be used to determine how to block your child's capability to use the instant messaging tool.
Save all evidence indicating that your child may be bullied. Keep digital and paper copies of any correspondence. Paper copies can be used as evidence if your computer is compromised by a virus or any documentation is lost through computer error or malfunction.
Take a screen shot of the text or message.
1. Hold down the Control key and the Print Screen keys at the same time.
2. Press the Control key and the letter C at the same time to copy the image on the screen.
3. Open a new document and paste the image into the document. This can be done by pressing the
control key and the letter V at the same time.
4. The screen shot alone will not be enough documentation in court. Collect additional information that
supports the screen shot includes the header or source information in an email.
Create a Google Alert.
A Google Alert will allow Google to notify you when a key word or phrase has been used on the Internet. It is wise to do an Internet search using an online search engine such as Google. Through conducting a search using your child's name you can determine if there is any information about him/her on the Internet.
Block Instant Messenger.
Instant Messenger allows the user to correspond directly and immediately with another person on the Internet. Since there are different sites and social media tools that allow the instant messenger option, the help function available for the tool can be used to determine how to block your child's capability to use the instant messaging tool.
When should I contact law enforcement officials?
According to StopBullying.gov, contact law enforcement officials immediately if there are:
For more information on signs of bullying, please refer to the resources section of this site.
- Threats of violence
- Child pornography or sexually explicit messages or photos
- Stalking or hate crimes
- Inappropriate photos posted online
For more information on signs of bullying, please refer to the resources section of this site.