Resources for Parents
It's important for you, as a parent, to recognize when your child is bullying or is a victim of cyber bullying/bullying. Below is some material that will help you better understand cyber bullying and how to address it.
If your child is a victim of bullying/cyber bullying, first talk to them or call 1-800-273-8255 (Crisis Center Hotline) or 1-800-843-5678 (CyberTipline).
Digital Content:
• Cyber Bullying Scenarios - Engage parents in a discussion about cyberbullying by reading and discussing these scenarios.
• A Student's Guide To Personal Publishing - This handout discusses issues that teenagers should consider when creating and publishing offline or online content.
• Cyber Bullying Fact Sheet: Information, Prevention and Response - This document is a five-page summary to equip parents to spot cyber bullying, respond to it appropriately and meaningfully, and to prevent its future occurrence among the children and teenagers they care for.
• Sexting: A Brief Guide for Educators and Parents - This fact sheet defines "sexting" as it occurs among adolescents, and summarizes the current state of research on the problem.
• Family Internet Use Contract - This is a formal agreement to be signed by both parents and children to help facilitate an open line of communication regarding the appropriate use of the Internet. Feel free to customize for your own needs.
• Cell Phone Use Contract - This is a formal agreement to be signed by both parents and children to help facilitate an open line of communication regarding the appropriate use of cell phones.
• 10 Ideas Youth to Educate their Community about Cyber Bullying - Outlines specific activities that adolescents and parents can do to promote awareness about online bullying and teach others how to deal with it.
• Cyber Bullying Scripts for Parents to Promote Dialogue and Discussion - Provides parent/teenager "scripts" to promote dialogue and discussion about cyber bullying.
• Preventing Cyber Bullying: Top 10 Tips for Parents - This list outlines strategies that parents can implement at home to keep their kids safe from cyberbullying victimization.
• Responding to Cyber Bullying: Top 10 Tips for Parents - This list outlines strategies that parents can use to respond to cyber bullying.
Online Quizzes:
• The Facts About Cyber Bullying - This quiz tests your knowledge about what the research says about cyberbullying.
• Dealing with Cyber Bullying - This quiz was created for children and teenagers to determine how equipped they are to deal with online harassment.
• Addressing Cyber Bullying - This quiz was created for children and teenagers to determine how equipped they are to deal with online harassment.
Books:
• Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying - This book focuses how technology can facilitate or magnify bullying behavior, this resource provides proactive strategies, current research, and legal rulings to protect students from cyber bullying. Written by Dr. Sameer Hinduja and Dr. Justin Patchin
• Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age - Kids are spending increasing amounts of time interacting with new technologies, and parents (and educators) need to teach kids lessons about how to interact appropriately with others online, via cell phone, etc. This book has handy information about how parents and educators can teach appropriate online "netiquette" to kids and how to intervene if a child is experiencing cyber bullying.
• Parent's Guide to Preventing and Responding to Bullying - The School Bullying Council Presents "Parent's Guide to Preventing and Responding to Bullying" This manual for parents and educators describes how we can work with students to prevent bullying and deal with it effectively when it happens. Written by Dr. Jason Thomas