What to Do When Your Child Is Bullied Online

About 46% of children today say they have been bullied at school. Sadly today’s technology means bullying can also follow children home. Around 38% of today’s young people say they have been bullied online. 

There are several steps you can take to help your child if they have a cyberbully. Here are tips on what to do when your child is bullied online. 

Thank Your Child For Trusting You

Thank your child for trusting you enough to talk about their cyberbullying experience. Remind your child that you are here for them and that you are glad they decided to come to you. 

Don’t Restrict Their Social Media Access

Resist the urge to take their electronic devices away. Remember, your child is the victim in the situation and shouldn’t have a punishment for someone else’s behavior. 

Have Your Child Show You the Messages

Ask your child to show you the messages or pictures they have received from their cyberbully. Ask them how long the internet bullying has been going on. Ask your child how they are feeling and what they would like to do next. 

It is important to remember that your child is the one dealing with this situation, not you. Make sure you do what makes them feel the most comfortable, not just what you think is best. Your child may choose to report their bully to their school or they may not. That decision is up to your child.

Keep Track of the Evidence

As a parent, you need to remember to save everything so you have proof of your child’s online bullying. Whether their bully sent voice memos or messages, you should take screenshots or save the files so they can be used as evidence if needed. If there ends up being an investigation, you will need all the proof you can get.

Keep the Evidence Off of Your Child’s Phone

That said, your child shouldn’t have to continue to look at harassing messages from their cyberbully. Save the evidence on your device so your child can delete it from theirs. Show them how to unfriend or block whoever is behind the cyberbullying, so they don’t have to deal with them anymore. 

Remind Your Child Not to Respond

Remember to talk to your child about the importance of not reacting or responding to their online bully. It would probably just make the situation worse, especially if your child resorts to threatening their bully the same way the bully has already threatened them. 

Your child should refrain from interacting with their bully at all. Your child could probably benefit from a break from the internet altogether. That way, they won’t continue to obsess about and hurt themself by searching for their bully’s profile after they have been blocked. 

Help Your Child Change Their Passwords

You should also encourage your child to change their passwords, even if they didn’t share them with anyone. They should make sure that absolutely no one else besides themself can get into their accounts. The last thing you want is for a bad situation to get worse. 

Now is also the time to go over your child’s privacy settings with them. If they do not already have their profile set to private, they should change it. This will prevent other potential internet bullies or strangers from getting hold of their personal information. 

Remind your child that they should never give out personal information over the internet. You can also encourage them to only add online friends that they know in real life. This can help protect your child from strangers who may be potential cyber bullies.

Tell Your Child’s School About What’s Happening

Notify your child’s school of the situation. Schools are specially trained to handle cyberbullying situations. They can help connect your child with a school counselor to help them work through their feelings. They will also be able to monitor your child while they are at school. 

Besides you, your child’s teachers will be able to notice changes in your child’s behavior if they are still being cyberbullied. Plus if your child goes to school with the person who bullied them online, the school should know so they can keep an eye on your child’s bully.