Take Action

Bullying Tips

• Listen carefully to your child, be sympathetic and calm. Do not blame your child or make him feel that it is his fault.

• Get professional help if you think your child needs it for the victimization.

• Encourage your child to keep talking to you, spend extra time with him, provide constant encouragement, and say “I believe you.”

• If you suspect your child is being bullied, contact your child’s teacher. Get the school’s cooperation in getting the bullying at school to stop.

• Stick to the facts, write them down.

• Focus on putting an end to the bullying.

Internet Safety Tips

• Keep the computer in a public area in your home so you can monitor their activity and time spent online and make sure they are safe.   Set a time limit for computer use. 

• Install filtering, blocking, monitoring or tracking software on your teen's computer (see "Internet Monitoring Software"  section below for links).

• Make sure their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networking profiles are all set to private.  Create a profile of your own and link with your child as a “friend” so you can monitor their activity.  If you see content or images you feel are inappropriate, talk to your child about why the image bothers you and have them remove it.

• Keep all your personal information offline as well as that of your child.  Report any offensive or dangerous e-mail, chat, or other communications to local law enforcement.  Do not delete!

• Warn them that people may not be what they seem to be and that people they don't know online are just like strangers.  Remind kids about the importance of not giving out any personal information, such as their home address, phone number or their school information until they’ve met in person with a parent present.

• Talk to children about what to do if they see something that makes them feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused.  Remind them to tell a trusted adult if they see something that bothers them online.
  
  
• Educate yourself about computers and learn to navigate the internet to protect your kids.  Learn what any acronym, abbreviation, or initialism stands for here. 

Internet Monitoring Software 

K9 Web Protection internet filter and parental control software (free)

Verity parental control software  (free)

Norton Family parental control software (free)

AVG Family Safety app for iOS/iPhone  (free)

AVG Family Safety app for Windows Mobile  (free)

Media Detective software  (free one-month demo)

AVG Family Safety software  ($49.99/1-year subscription)

Spytech SpyAgent monitoring software  ($69.95)

Spectorsoft Spector Pro monitoring software  ($99.95)