There’s no running away from the fact that cyberbullying has spread worldwide. With almost everything now done digitally, it is very difficult to avoid it. Although it is near impossible to completely get rid of this issue, you still can minimize the risk of it affecting your kids by following certain steps. These certain steps have been discussed in this article and will surely help you in shielding your kids from cyberbullying.
Parental Controls
This is one of the most straightforward approaches that you can adopt in order to ensure that your kids don’t get affected in any way by cyberbullying. There are tons of parental control apps available on the web that will help you in almost every single way. With the help of such a tool, you can remain aware of what’s happening in your kids’ lives by getting access to their computer, mobile and internet activities. Some of the more powerful parental control apps like ShieldMyTeen enable you to view sent and received SMS and MMS on your kids’ mobiles, and even keep an eye on their social media accounts, especially Facebook and Instagram. Texting and social networking sites are two of the most common channels through which kids get cyberbullied. By supervising these two areas, you can easily keep them out of harm’s way and help them out in case someone is picking on them online, or if they’re inadvertently attracting trouble themselves.
Talk to Them
This seems like a simple solution but it is much more difficult to accomplish than you’d expect. Children of the modern age like to spend most of their time on their digital gadgets and rarely share anything with their parents about their lives. Despite this, it is parents’ responsibility to make small talks with their kids. You will be able to know instantly if your kids are feeling down and then you can proceed to ask what’s wrong with them. They may be hesitant at first, but after this has happened more than once, they will feel at ease while talking to you, hence sharing more about them. This is the most proficient way to deal with the child facing cyberbullying.
No Interaction with Strangers
In today’s world, anyone can interact with anyone through social networking platform, so you should advise your children not to talk to anyone whom they don’t know anything about. Getting them pay heed to your advice in the real world may be easier, but the same cannot be said about their online lives. Fortunately, digital products like SecureTeen are there to give you a peace of mind by letting you supervise their online interactions and see who they’re been talking to.
Talk to the School Management
More often than not, the perpetrators of cyberbullying are none other than your kids’ own class fellows. Once you’ve gotten a gist of it, you need to get in touch with the school management right away and report the situation to them. Discuss the different options with them and have them call the parents of cyberbullies.
Privacy
Although the word privacy doesn’t mean much nowadays, children must still do whatever they can in order to secure their privacy. Of course, they will not learn about it until you teach them. Parents buy their kids all the gadgets they want without even telling them how they can prove to be harmful. Most of the social networking platforms are public and are one of the major sources of cyberbullying. However, if you have taught your kids about the privacy, then both you and your kids will be able to rest easy.
