Wellbeing
Vermont Secondary School
The school has recently had a number of reports of students outside of school engaging in cyberbullying. As parents we know you are managing the difficult task of trying to stay aware of what your young person is accessing online, who they are managing interactions with including both peers and sometimes people they have never met online and how much time they are spending online. At the same time, finding moments and times to have conversations around these challenges in itself can be difficult.
Like many things during adolescence sometimes our young people learn by making mistakes and when mistakes are made in online interactions information can be shared widely, quickly and very publicly adding to the seriousness of the behaviour. Learning what to say and not say, how to say no, how to leave group conversations and how to look after each other is just as important during their online interactions as their face to face interactions.
Some tips in terms of how to respond include:
Stay calm and reassure them that you will listen to get a sense of how you can help
Brainstorm with them ways that will help avoid responding to negative and inappropriate comments online
Brainstorm ways that will make it acceptable to them to block someone or leave a group that is not healthy for them
Report concerning behaviour to the appropriate authorities if needed and reach out to the student manager re: any concerns
Encourage your young person to call out inappropriate behaviour if they are confident and comfortable to
Encourage your young person to reach out to and support anyone they see having a difficult time online
In advance be clear that there is never anything so great that they can’t tell, no matter what they may have done or what someone has done to them. Make it clear you want to know and you will always want to help
Please also use the below two links for further information and to help skill yourself with knowledge and ideas about how to help your young person both with bullying in general and cyberbully. The links contain information whether you are concerned re: your young person doing harm to others or has had harm done to them.