No Room for Bullies!

We need to take control of Cyberspace to keep our kids safe.

The more time we spend on line and the more we rely on the technology, the more opportunity there is for the darker side of our society to take advantage.
Nowhere is it more evident than the growing problem of cyber bullying.

We can, however, turn the tables. There are a myriad of online resources about cyber bullying to help us become a little more prepared, more supportive and more educated on what can happen and what to do if bullying raises it’s ugly head in our lives.

A great place to begin is http://www.bullying.org/. One of the oldest sites, Bullying.org was started in response to the Taber, Alberta tragedy, in which a young man, the victim of relentless bullying, went on a shooting rampage in 1999. The site is dedicated to education and prevention; it’s a terrific resource for both youth and adults.

The Youth in BC website, http://youthinbc.com/, is focused on kids at risk. Not just about bullying, it includes resources on abuse, eating disorders, sex advice, and self-harm and suicide. The Youth in BC site is fully interactive, with online chat and phone counsellors available 24 hours a day.

Kids Help Phone, http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/, is also a fantastic refuge for kids at risk. They now focus on cyber bullying as one of the main risks kids face.

Each of the sites mentioned all contain links to other resources; once you visit one site you are on the path to many other resources. We have listed a few more at the bottom of this page.

One thing we all need to remember about cyber bullying is that the technology is not to blame; bullying occurs wherever opportunity occurs. But we do need to guard against giving bullies access to additional opportunities.
Social networking sites, like FaceBook and MySpace, represent new grounds for bullies to act. Understanding the limits of technology can help, and deciding on some good ground rules surrounding the use of technology can be a great defence against potential bullies.

Some tips:
Face to face friends only – your kids should be able to identify each of their friends o
Be very careful when adding new applications in FaceBook – Applications such as “Honesty Box”, where users can post anonymously on their friends’ walls, create opportunities bullies don't ignore.

Learn Internet Etiquette – If you don't understand the “rules of the road” you can inadvertently offend someone, creating conflict and leading to a number of unpleasant results. An example is a kid who doesn't understand that using all caps is akin to shouting; their friends will soon take umbrage to being yelled at all the time and a conflict can then occur.

Readers Digest Article on a bullying Death
(Includes an insert from Cindi Seddon, cofounder of Coquitlam's Bully B'ware program, and a teacher as well as a school principal)
http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2001/10/bullying.html