Resources for Parents - Cyberbullying

Managing media in middle childhood (6-9 years old)

Helping Kids Build Safe and Smart Digital Habits

Parents can focus on helping kids this age explore safely by choosing high-quality experiences, setting clear boundaries, and teaching them how to recognize when something feels off.

There are four main strategies to help kids become resilient to online risks. We can:

Curate our kids’ media experiences;

Control who can access our kids and their data;

Co-view media with our kids;

and be our kids’ media Coaches.

Helping our kids deal with cyberbullying

This parent guide provides information about cyberbullying, and includes practical tips on how to help prevent or reduce the impact of cyberbullying, what you should do if your child is targeted or if your child is cyberbullying someone, and how you can help your child stand up to cyberbullying. 

Helping Kids Make an Impact When They Witness Cyberbullying

In 2015, MediaSmarts and PREVNet conducted a study of Canadian students – funded by TELUS – to find out how to give youth better advice and support when they witness cyberbullying. That research, Young Canadians' Experiences with Online Bullying, aimed to discover three things: what are the barriers to witness intervention in cyberbullying? What incentives can increase the likelihood of witness intervention? And which interventions are more or less likely to have a positive outcome?

How Social Media Helps Teens Cope With Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Harm

By Dr. Sameer Hinduja of the Cyberbullying Research Centre
Content reposted with permission – original article from Cyberbullying.org

It is easy for many adults – whether educators or parents – to focus on the negatives of social media in the lives of teens today. This is understandable, because they are the ones who have to deal with the fallout when adolescents make mistakes online (cyberbullying incidents, sexting cases, electronic dating violence, digital reputation drama, and similar forms of wrongdoing).

Cyberbullying and the Law

Cyberbullying can be addressed under civil law or criminal law, based on the situation.