teenage parenting : cyberbully

Being a parent to a teenage or preteen child of today's world is so much more difficult than it was, say 20 years ago... heck, even 10 years ago. With the constant advances in technology and the ever expanding form of cyber communication life for our kids is much more complex. Gone are the days of simply calling your best friends after school and tying up the phone line until dinner. Now there is text, chat, messaging, camera to camera messaging, photo messages (not to mention the social media like Facebook and Myspace)... you name it, it is probably possible. This opens up so many opportunities for our kids to be zeroed in on and harrassed and bullied (not to mention the subject of predator). Statistically, i-SAFE states that:

• Over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyber bullying.
• More than 1 in 3 young people have experienced cyberthreats online.
• Over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet.
• Well over half of young people do not tell their parents when cyber bullying occurs

Please take the time and Watch this:



If you have a teenage or preteen child, and / or in you are entertaining the thought of allowing your child access to the internet and cyber world please consider sitting down together and watching the ABC Family movie Cyberbully. This movie will help open the door to discuss the very real dangers of your child being 'online' and allow you to have an open conversation on what the guidelines and rules are within your household. 


Personally, my 13 year old daughter has a laptop, and both my daughter and 12 year old son have an iTouch with internet capability. They do not have smart phones. We have set in place many strict rules, and both parents and kids know what those are. Unfortunately, just because you have set rules A) doesn't mean that they will always follow them and B) doesn't secure your kids from becoming victim to cyberbullying. We are parent's have to do overtime in monitoring what is sent via online, text and picture messaging, email, etc. It is ALOT of work and as much I don't want to say it, there are so many... too many parent's out there that DO NOT follow up with their kids cyber activities. I urge you to be proactive in protecting your child and guiding your child with the knowledge of what being online is all about.