Do Schools Have Legal Authority to Respond to Off-Campus Cyberbullying?

March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

What can schools do when a student is being cyberbullied by another student off-campus? Do schools have any authority to take disciplinary action?

These questions were recently discussed on the Cyberbullying Research Center’s blog. The blog post approached these issues by listing a progression of legal cases dealing with schools’ authority to respond to students’ bad behavior when it occurs off-campus. While there is still some legal ambiguity concerning a school’s authority to take action against cyberbullying, the author believes that schools do have the power to take action:

“…the reality, in my view, is that there is no uncertainty about this issue.  Schools simply do have the authority to reasonably discipline students for any behavior (whether at school or away from school) if such behavior results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in, a substantial or material disruption at school or if the behavior infringes on the rights of other students. So the short answer to the question posed in the title of this blog post is: YES!”

As long as a school can prove that the cyberbullying is substantially disrupting the school environment or infringing on the rights of a student, they have the authority to discipline a student for 0ff-campus cyberbullying. This is good news in the continued effort to discourage bullying, whether it be in schoolyard or on internet.

Check out the post in its entirety at: Can schools respond to off-campus cyberbullying?

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Is your child a victim of cyberbullying?

February 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Cyberbullying is a big deal and everyone is a possible target. Be sure to keep an eye on your kids and read this post by hfnl.org that will give you helpful cues to finding out if your child could be a victim of cyberbulying…

Bullies and mean girls have been around forever, but technology has given them a whole new platform for their actions. As adults, we’re becoming more aware that the “sticks and stones” adage no longer holds true; virtual name-calling can have real-world effects on the well being of kids and teens.
It’s not always easy to know how and when to step in as a parent. For starters, our kids tend to use technology differently than we do. Many spend a lot of time on social networking sites, send text messages and instant messages (IMs) by the hundreds, and are likely to roll their eyes at the mention of email – that’s “so old-school” to them. Their knowledge and habits can be intimidating, but they still need us as parents.
Fortunately, our growing awareness of cyberbullying has helped us learn a lot more about how to prevent it. Here are some suggestions on what to do if online bullying has become part of your child’s life.
What Is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. By definition, it occurs among young people. When an adult is involved, it may meet the definition of cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking, a crime that can have legal consequences and involve jail time.
Sometimes cyberbullying can be clear-cut. For example, leaving overtly cruel cell phone text messages or mean notes posted to Web sites. Other acts are less obvious, such as impersonating a victim online or posting personal information or videos designed to hurt or embarrass another child.
Cyberbullying also can happen accidentally. The impersonal nature of text messages, IMs, and emails make it very hard to detect the sender’s tone – one teen’s joke or sense of humor could be another’s devastating insult. Nevertheless, a repeated pattern of emails, text messages, and online posts is rarely accidental.
A 2006 poll from the national organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids found that 1 in 3 teens and 1 in 6 preteens have been the victims of cyberbullying. As more and more youths have access to computers and cell phones, the incidence of cyberbullying is likely to rise.
Effects of Cyberbullying
No longer limited to schoolyards or street corners, modern-day bullying can happen at home as well as at school – essentially 24 hours a day. And, for kids who are being cyberbullied, it can feel like there’s no escape.
Severe cyberbullying can leave victims at greater risk for anxiety, depression, and other stress-related disorders. In very rare cases, some kids have turned to suicide.
The punishment for cyberbullies can include being suspended from school or kicked off of sports teams. Certain types of cyberbullying also may violate school codes or even anti-discrimination or sexual harassment laws.
Signs of Cyberbullying
Many kids and teens who are cyberbullied are reluctant to tell a teacher or parent, often because they feel ashamed of the social stigma, or because they fear their computer privileges will be taken away at home.
The signs that a child is being cyberbullied vary, but a few things to look for are:
  • signs of emotional distress during or after using the Internet
  • withdrawal from friends and activities
  • avoidance of school or group gatherings
  • slipping grades and “acting out” in anger at home
  • changes in mood, behavior, sleep, or appetite
How Parents Can Help
If you discover that your child is being cyberbullied, be sure to discuss how it feels. Offer assurance that it’s not your child’s fault. Talking to teachers or school administrators also may help.
Many schools, school districts, and after-school clubs have established protocols for responding to cyberbullying; these vary by district and state. But before reporting the problem, let your child know that you plan to do so, as he or she could have concerns about “tattling” and might prefer that the problem be handled at home.
Other measures to try:
  • Block the bully. Most devices have settings that allow you to electronically block emails, IMs, or text messages from specific people.
  • Limit access to technology. Although it’s hurtful, many kids who are bullied can’t resist the temptation to check Web sites or phones to see if there are new messages. Keep the computer in a public place in the house (no laptops in children’s bedrooms, for example) and limit the use of cell phones and games. Some companies allow you to turn off text messaging services during certain hours, which can give bullied kids a break.
  • Know your kids’ online world. Check their postings and the sites kids visit, and be aware of how they spend their time online. Talk to them about the importance of privacy and why it’s a bad idea to share personal information online, even with friends. Encourage them to safeguard passwords.
If your child agrees, you may also arrange for mediation with a therapist or counselor at school who can work with your child and/or the bully.
When Your Child Is the Bully
Finding out that your child is the one who is behaving inappropriately can be upsetting and heartbreaking. It’s important to address the problem head on and not wait for it to go away.
Talk to your child firmly about his or her actions and explain the negative impact it has on others. Joking and teasing might seem OK, but it can hurt people’s feelings and lead to getting in trouble. Bullying – in any form – is unacceptable; there can be serious (and sometimes irrevocable) consequences at home, school, and in the community if it continues.
Remind your child that the use of cell phones and computers is a privilege. Sometimes it helps to restrict the use of these devices until behavior improves. If you feel your child should have a cell phone for safety reasons, make sure it is a phone that can only be used for emergency purposes.
To get to the heart of the matter, sometimes talking to teachers, guidance counselors, and other school officials can help identify situations that lead your child to bully others. If mismanaged anger is a problem, talk to a doctor about helping your child learn to cope with anger, hurt, frustration, and other strong emotions in a healthy way.
Professional counseling often helps kids learn to deal with their feelings and improve their social skills, which in turn can curb bullying.
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A teen guide to staying safe online

February 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes, it seems to be impossible to get our children to take our advice. They tend to listen to their peers more than they listen to us… Here’s a guide we found on BBC News with words of advice from teens for teens on some important online safety issues:

 

Pupils from Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School

Pupils working on their reports about being safe online.

Staying safe online is an important issue for young people using the internet, with cyberbullying becoming an increasingly serious problem.

To coincide with Safer Internet Day on 7 February, School Reporters at Chislehurst & Sidcup Grammar investigated some of the safety issues which affect young people online.

Have a read of their top tips to staying safe and out of trouble when you’re on the web.

 

SOCIAL NETWORKS

 

By Josie, 13

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites with over 800 million people online – lots of them people our age.

With people posting and ‘liking’ everyday, it is a great way to share what you’re doing with your friends. But are they all friends?

People can hold fake accounts, pretending to be someone they’re not. This may seem scary but there are some things you can do. Safety on Facebook is very important, but do you really know how to stay safe using social networks?

First thing to do is check your privacy settings – making sure you know what you’re showing to the general public. Some status updates and pictures could attract these ‘fakers’.

 Never agree to meet people that you’ve never met in real life 

You can change this setting so only your friends can see, with just one click of your mouse.

Accounts can be hacked into if you have a weak password, so make sure your password is one which only you know. This can cause ‘fakers’ to pretend and write posts in your name.

To avoid this, have a strong password that includes numbers or symbols. You can check if people hacked your Facebook account by checking your statuses. Changing your password often, also helps.

Never agree to meet people that you’ve never met in real life. This could be dangerous, as that 14-year-old boy could be an old grandpa! To avoid this don’t agree to meet up, no matter how good it may seem and always tell your parents!

 

HACKING

 

By Jack, 12

You need to be very careful when you are online because criminals can hack your computer really easily.

Always protect your data. Criminals are most likely to hack websites when you enter a credit card number in.

Children at Chiselhurst and Sidcup Grammar School

Pupils working on their online safety guides

If you do buy a product online, then you should use a ‘Single-Use’ account which is located on most websites. This is when your card details are deleted straight after payment.

Also avoid buying products from sites that you don’t know. Only buy products online from sites that you trust.

And always remember that even if a site says ‘secure’ and starts with https: it means that it is harder to hack, but not impossible to hack.

 

PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

By Millie, 12

Keep details such as your full name, address, mobile number, email address, school name and friends full names secret.

Otherwise people can use this information to contact you. Your passwords and nicknames should always be secret.

If you have to give an online screen name or nickname, never use your real name, and try not to use things that are easy to guess like your parents name or the name of a pet.

When you send a text or photo message from your mobile, your phone number automatically goes with it.

So think carefully, especially before sending photos of yourself or friends from your camera-phone.

 

DOWNLOADING

 

By Jo, 12

Gaming and technology has really moved on. You can send countless messages as you sit in your chair and play on your console.

Also you can now download games so that they’re ready to play as soon as you click ‘download’. However not all downloads are completely safe – some may contain viruses, and not all messages will be friendly. Here’s what to do if you receive a bad message or virus.

 Always let an adult know if you think you are being cyberbullied 

Check the website that you have downloaded and research its history before you press ‘download’. If it is the official webpage of the download, it should be ok, but you should always check.

Do you know what to do if a user starts hassling you online? Who do you tell? Where can you turn?

Check out the report abuse section of the games website you’re on, or, if you’re on your console playing, make sure you know how to block a user and save the evidence of their abuse. Always let an adult know if you think you are being cyberbullied.

 

CYBERBULLYING

 

By Sienna, 12, Issy, 13, & Marina, 12

Even on the internet bullying can occur. Posting an embarrassing or humiliating video of someone, harassing someone by sending messages or even setting up profiles on social networking sites are all examples of cyberbullying.

No one especially children and teenagers should go through this. Normally the bully may seem big but is actually as scared and shy as the victim. People seem so big over the internet. You don’t really know who is out there or who is behind the profile or screen.

Talk to someone you trust. This could be a teacher, parent or friend. You may even have to change your email address if you’re repeatedly bullied through email.

 You can easily become a bully – stop and think before you write a message 

No matter how horrible the message – do not reply. That is what the bully wants. Instead block instant messages and emails. Ask a parent or teacher for help.

Whatever you think, you’re not alone. There is always someone else who has gone through something like you. In our class at school of 18 pupils, seven have been cyberbullied and 12 know someone who has experienced it.

In terms of instant messaging, it is very easy to say something that you wouldn’t say in real life. You can easily become a bully. Stop and think before you write a message. Think of the consequences. How would you feel in that situation?

 
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5 Internet Safety Lessons to Consider

February 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Unfortunately, it’s not just the outside people that are trying to harm that causes online safety issues… Our children sometimes act in ways by which they put themselves at risk. Here are 5 great tips for you to consider that were posted on Huff Post Parents Blog:

We started our undercover work in search of online predators back in 1999, when the web was hardly as social — and hardly as dangerous — a place as it is today.

Chatrooms were our major focus at that point, because they weren’t monitored, and because adult subject matter was easily accessible.

Whenever we ventured into the dark and seamy realm of the chat world, we always seemed to find someone breaking the law and taking advantage of a child, or what they thought was a child. And we found the perpetrators in a matter of minutes.

Shortly after we started working on these cases, NBC’sDateline aired “To Catch a Predator,” and this helped shine a negative light on online predators. Parents became panic-stricken, and online safety became a major concern in families and schools all across the nation.

As law enforcement officers, we didn’t want to add to the anxiety. Instead, we wanted to be part of the solution, to help teach and promote online responsibility.

But one of the most striking things we found through our investigations was the fact that children, themselves, were behaving in ways that put them at risk. Using this information, we then tried to teach kids how to navigate the Internet safely, how to give them the knowledge and power to feel protected whenever they were online.

Technology continued to change over the years, and we saw that more students were interested in communicating through their computers via Instant Messaging (IM). Setting up an IM account also included the ability to create an “Online Profile.” I think this is when the technology industry realized that there was an interest in moving the web to a more social environment.

Shortly after this, MySpace became the hottest way for people to connect online and create their own digital identity. I remember getting phone calls and requests to talk to students and parents about MySpace. The concern was that parents didn’t know about this form of communication; and they feared that their kids were spending too much time online on MySpace.

As with all great inventions, there’s always going to be someone out there who exploits it.

And so we started seeing cases where children were meeting strangers online through this emerging social media. There were also cases that involved bullying and cyber-bullying.

There was so much negative press around MySpace, and the problems associated with it, that, after seeing a news report on the site, I used to tell my fellow officers: “I’m going to get a call from a school today.” And, sure enough, I would.

This kept me pretty busy; but I always felt bad for the parents, because they lacked an understanding of the technology, and how to make it useful without it being a threat.

Over time, MySpace popularity dropped; to some extent, I think this was because Mom and Dad were scared and started monitoring — or blocking — their kids’ activity on the site.

People eventually left MySpace for Facebook.

One of the reasons for this migration, in my opinion, was that Facebook originally required you to have a college email address, so it wasn’t available for everyone. This gave kids more freedom online from prying parents.

But, again, I started to get calls from parents. The big question was: “What is Facebook, and why are my kids spending so much time there?”

Today, social media rules the web.

I don’t care who you are, but I’m sure you either have an email address, LinkedIn account, or Facebook or Twitter account. You’re living on the social web, and it’s important to maintain a positive image of yourself and be more responsible with your identity in this rapidly expanding digital environment.

This form of technology clearly isn’t going away. And, as a result, we need to focus on teaching children how to stay safe and protect their privacy and reputations on social networks. We also need to give parents the solutions and tools to monitor their kids’ social web activities. Parents are able to watch over their kids in the real world; now we must help them oversee their children in the digital world.

Here are five lessons learned that I have gathered over the years I believe crucial for parents — and their kids — to consider:

  • Concerns over online predators: Although the risk of encountering an online predator may be low, the risk is there. To help lower the risk, children should only communicate with people they know from the non-online. Predators can pretend to be someone they are not, (like another child) and may show up in places where children like to play online.
  • Cyberbullying: Children should only give their passwords to mom and dad. They should never share their passwords with their friends. Children will give their passwords to friends though in the following instances: a friend may be better at an online game and can earn them credits to purchase online goods; they may have a friend whose parents don’t allow them on the same sites as your child so they let them borrow their site. The problem is this: Those who are your friends today, may not be your friend tomorrow. These ex-friends now have your password. And if you are like many people who only have one password for all your accounts, now they have access to them as well. These ex-friends can now log into your accounts, pretend to be you, and start vicious rumors and turn your other friends against you.
  • How to teach responsibility: Parents should teach their children to never post hurtful comments and/or say anything that may be offensive. If anyone should post such comments on their page, they should remove them immediately. If you wouldn’t say it in person, you shouldn’t say it online.
  • Geotagging/Geolocations services: Parents and children need to know what the capabilities are of the devices they use. If you have a Smartphone, iPod, iPad or any wireless device that can take pictures, you should turn off the location services for the camera. Location services turned “On” with the camera will embed a “Geotag” with the latitude and longitude of where the person was standing at the time they took the photo and/or video. If these images are then posted online via Facebook or any other site, someone can locate them based on the geotag.
  • Social Networking settings: Make sure you check your Privacy Settings on any social media site at least once a month. Sites are always making changes and these changes may take your settings and set them back to the default, which may not be as secure as you originally set them.

I tell people that if you’re going to live your life like an open book online, people are going to read it.

And that’s why — more than a decade after starting my quest for greater Internet safety — I continue to do all that I can to protect kids and educate parents when it comes to the Web.

In conclusion, I feel strongly that parents must take this issue seriously today; and they must step up and monitor their children on social networks. The bottom line here is that the social web is simply not a game or a toy.

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Students learn to be responsible online

February 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

With children having access to the internet in many places and through various devices, it is important for parents to educate them about the dangers. We let them know about things like cyberbullying, online predators, and how to protect about reputation. But what is important is that our kids know that something they post or do today can affect them tomorrow. Thing on the internet are permanent – they don’t just go away. It is your responsibility as a parent to make sure your child understands this. To read the full article and watch the VIDEO on how “kids’s behavior today can negatively affect their future” check out Clickondetroit.com!

 

PLYMOUTH, Mich. – Children have a lot of access to the Internet with computers, laptops, iPads and cell phones.

The Internet is a tool children can use for school and fun, but they can quickly find themselves in a dangerous situation facing predators and bullies.  They can also do and say things online that could hurt themselves and their reputation.

Seventh grade students at West Middle School in Plymouth were reminded of the dangers of the Internet during a presentation by the office of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.

They learned about cyber bullying, predators and how to protect their reputation.

The messages about bullying hit home for a lot of students.

“There are people out there that want to hurt other people and they, they don’t know what they are doing, and they don’t know that they’re actually hurting lives,” said seventh-grade student Mohamed Fofama.

Fofama knows how much bullying hurts. He said he was bullied.

“There was this guy who tripped me, and this girl, uh, this girl putted it on Facebook, put the video on Facebook,” said Fofama.
He told his father and the bullying stopped.

“They need to understand that just because you say something online, it needs to be something that you would have said in person. Many kids are, you know, hiding behind their gaming console or their computer screen, and they will say things and they don’t really understand the ramifications of those statements,” said West Middle School Principal Clint Smiley.

The presentation by Schuette’s office told students who face a bully to do the following:
1.Don’t to respond or retaliate.
2. Block the bully.
3. Save evidence of the bullying.
4.Tell a parent or another trusted adult what is happening.

“It was on the bus, so the bus driver knew about it too. And I had to tell my mom,” said Traver Rouse about his bullying experience.

“I have had some friends who had gotten mean text messages and they just go to an adult and tell them and everything got cleared up,” said Alyssa Salloum.

The Michigan Attorney General’s office said there are three “keeps” to teach children about staying safe online:

1. I keep safe my personal information.
2. I keep away from Internet strangers
3. I keep telling my parents or trusted adult.

Smiley said parents need to be vigilant about what they’re children are doing online to keep them away from predators and out of trouble.

“You wouldn’t let your kid go wander the streets at three in the morning of any town, so why would you let them wander the super high way?  And they are wandering those streets all the time. You know, many of the things that happen that come to school, don’t happen at four in the afternoon. They happen at two in the morning, three in the morning, four in the morning, and that concerns me because kids need sleep, but also that their parents clearly can’t be moderating them at that time of the day,” said Smiley.

The other message students received was that what they say, the pictures they text or post, can affect their future.  Whether it is an inappropriate Facebook post or sexting, children can face consequences that could affect their future chances of getting into the college they want or even a job.

They were taught to be responsible with what they do online.

“I learned not to send like an inappropriate text to other people or of yourself to other people because it will get spread around and it’s illegal and it’s a felony. You will go to jail,” said seventh-grader Joe McAllister.

The AG’s office has created an online safety contract for families to consider using.

It outlines safety measures parents and children can talk about and agree to to keep them safe.

If you would like to take a look at it, click here.  Once on that page, go to the student presentations handouts to find the contract.

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Kids are now using “codes” to hide things from their parents

February 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Just as parents are catching up with technology, our children come up with new things to make our life more difficult: They are writing in “Codes”. Now it’s on us to figure them out! This article will cover some of them, such as: BIH, GNOC, AITR or W2M… If you don’t know what these mean, read the article!!!! Also, please share some of the ones you are aware and help others learn!

In the vast number of places kids can fall into trouble on the web, parents often find it challenging to monitor what their children are doing in cyberspace. This is particularly true as the web increasingly becomes more social.
Over time chat lingo has become a part of the norm when engaging in online conversations, however, these terms rarely remain stagnant as new web speak emerges. Keeping up with all those acronyms can be difficult for parents as try and monitor what their kids are doing, especially if their children actively make an effort to try and mask what they are talking about online. Social network monitoring service SocialShield has released a list of the top terms children are using online. In a press release emailed to Digital Journal, SocialShield’s list “sheds light on the latest lingo kids are using to hold illicit, risky or secretive conversations.” The list was released this past week and includes several ‘codes’ kids use that their parents likely don’t know – and should. According to SocialShield,

“These little-known codes are part of a new lexicon being formed by children—and those who might prey on children—to communicate with each other in ways that most adults wouldn’t understand.”

The list was compiled through an analysis of commonly “flagged” terms pegged by SocialShield’s cloud-based monitoring engines which pick out terms that might be risky, illicit or dangerous. SocialShield has categorized social media terms in six different categories which are: cyberbullying, warning of parents in the room, conversations sexual in nature, cries for help, drugs and drinking, and requests to meet in person.
For many years now teens have turned to socialization online as a way to meet up with their peers and interact. However, now that parents are friending their kids on Facebook and other networks, in their eyes, this may have crossed too far over the line of what’s cool. Consider a hangout or house where parents or other adults are constantly present, teens are more likely to go to hang out in places, well, where their parents aren’t.
In response to being connected to adults online, kids may actively seek ways to slip under their parents’ radar. For instance, recently an interesting trend emerged that indicated teens were migrating to Twitterin order to escape the eyes of the adults in their lives and try and increase their privacy in virtual spaces. Other teens that are posting under the eyes of their parents are taking a different approach by adapting new lingo that their parents are not versed in.

“Many parents think friending their child on social networks is enough to monitor their activities and protect them, yet time and time again it’s shown that it isn’t,” said George Garrick, CEO of SocialShield. “Most parents don’t have the time to keep up with the sheer volume of interactions or have the understanding of the online language to really get what their kids are saying or what people are saying to their kids. This makes it really easy for problems to go unnoticed,” said Garrick.

SocialShield says the more parents connect with their kids on networks, the more frequently new terms pop up. A sampling of the top ‘coded’ terms highlighted by SocialShield in each of their six categories included:
  • Cyberbullying Terms: BIH (“Burn In Hell”); GKY (“Go Kill Yourself”); 182 (“I Hate You”)
  • Warning of Parents/Adults Nearby: POS (“Parent Over Shoulder”); AITR (“Adult In The Room”); P911 (“Parent Emergency”)
  • Sexual Terms: GNOC (“Get Naked On Cam”); TDTM (“Talk Dirty To Me”); D46 (“Down For Sex?”) • Cries for Help: IHML (“I Hate My Life”); IHTFP (“I Hate This F–king Place”); PHM (“Please Help Me”) 
  • Drugs/Drinking Terms: CRAFT (“Can’t Remember A F–king Thing”); UDI (“Unidentified Drinking Injury”
  • Meet Up Requests: MIRL (“Meet In Real Life?”); W2M (“Want To Meet?”); S2R (“Send To Receive” [Pictures]
Parents are best armed through educating themselves to keep up with current Internet trends. The terms listed are said by SocialShield to be text lingo parents should be aware of their kids potentially using. The service also continuously updates the program’s dictionary of terms as it scans social network interactions. Social Shield’s full list of terms:

Screen shot from SocialShield’s Facebook page of commonly used ‘secret words’ teens use on social networks that parents should be aware of

Read more at Digitaljournal.com

 

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The Horrors of Cyberbullying

January 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Another sad example of what people are capable of doing… Dr. Manny Alvarez contibuted the following story on Fox News:

Cyber-bullying highlighted in death of 9-year-old girl

It was with a heavy heart that I read Thursday about the death of Kathleen Edwards, a 9 -year-old girl from Michigan with Huntington’s disease.  Kathleen’s story received national attention when, in October 2010, she was cruelly taunted by her grandmother’s next door neighbor.

The neighbor, Jennifer Petkov, posted pictures on Facebook of Kathleen’s face with her eyes closed and a pair crossed bones beneath them, and a picture of Kathleen’s mother and the Grim Reaper. Petkov was reportedly in a feud at the time with Kathleen’s family.

This story really affected me when it came out because I could not believe that in the face of a child who was suffering from a very devastating disease, a person could be so insensitive as to cyberbully her and make her life harder.

It also reminded me of the challenges that many children with disabilities face, especially in the age of social media.  As you all know, I have an autistic child, so I always worry about other people taking advantage of or harassing him for his challenges.

Every day, I try to teach my children to respect others.  I tell them if they don’t understand something, they should learn more about what’s going on first, before making any comments.

Huntington’s disease is a severe neurodegenerative disease.  It’s passed down through families as a genetic defect on chromosome 4.  The defect causes a part of the DNA to repeat itself many more times than it is supposed to and results in the brain wasting away.

While Huntington’s usually affects people between the ages of 30 and 40, the longer it is passed down a family line, the earlier it begins to present itself – meaning it can eventually affect young children like Kathleen.

The disease can cause a number of severe symptoms, including hallucinations, behavioral disturbances and abnormal movements of the body.    Eventually, the patient descends into dementia, and finally, death.  There are currently no treatments or cures.

That’s why I was outraged to hear what Kathleen had to suffer through, in addition to her disease.

Parents, please talk to your children about bullying. Talk to your children about compassion for others.  And tell the story of little Kathleen Edwards, a brave and beautiful child that could teach many of us a thing or two about life.

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Cyberbullying – A Global Problem

January 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We hear it on tv, on the radio, and read about it online… Cyberbullying is something that can affect anyone… And it’s a problem all over the world! Read the following study results we found on MSNBC.


NEW YORK — More than 10 percent of parents around the world say their child has been cyberbullied and nearly one-fourth know a youngster who has been a victim, according to a new Ipsos/Reuters poll.

And more than three-quarters of people questioned in the global survey thought cyberbullying differed from other types of harassment and warranted special attention and efforts from parents and schools.

“The data clearly shows an appetite among global citizens for a targeted response to cyberbullying,” said Keren Gottfried, of the global research firm Ipsos, which conducted the poll.

But, she added, whether or not schools live up to this mandate is in the hands of educators.

The online poll of more than 18,000 adults in 24 countries, 6,500 of whom were parents, showed the most widely reported vehicle for cyberbullying was social networking sites likes Facebook, which were cited by 60 percent.

Mobile devices and online chat rooms were a distant second and third, each around 40 percent.

While the report showed that awareness of cyberbullying was relatively high, with two-thirds saying they heard, read or had seen information on the phenomenon, cultural and geographic differences abounded.

In Indonesia, 91 percent said they knew about cyberbullying, in which a child, group of children or younger teen intentionally intimidates, threatens or embarrasses another child or group through the use of information technology such as social media or mobile devices.

Australia followed at 87 percent, while Poland and Sweden trailed slightly behind. But only 29 percent in Saudi Arabia, and 35 percent in Russia, had heard of cyberbullying.

In the United States, where cases of cyberbullying have been widely reported to have been linked to teen-age suicides, the figure was 82 percent.

Gottfried described the survey as the first global study of its kind and a benchmark to where assessments of cyberbullying vary.

“The key to this study is that it measures parental awareness of cyberbullying, not actual rates of the behavior,” she said. “While we can’t speculate on what actually happens, it is quite possible that the proportion of children actually being cyberbullied is in fact understated, since we are speaking with the parents, not the kids.”

In India 32 percent of parents said their child had experienced cyberbullying, followed by 20 percent in Brazil and 18 percent in Canada and Saudi Arabia and 15 percent in the United States.

The highest incidence of people knowing of a child in the community being targeted was in Indonesia, with 53 percent. But only 14 percent there said their child had been cyberbullied — less than in Canada, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Overall, parents in France and Spain reported some of the lowest incidence of cyberbullying either of their own child or one in their community.

Gottfried said that future studies could show whether there was a trend toward greater awareness of cyberbullying, and shed some light on what affects parental awareness.

The complete list of results and countries can be found at http://www.ipsosglobaladvisor.com/

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10 Ways Technology Makes Bullying Worse

December 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Bullying is a serious issue… Bit it can be so much worse if the offender can hide behind the anonymity that technology can provide. Read what we found on Fulltimenanny.com about the ways technology makes bullying worse:

When we were growing up there were bullies.  Nobody liked to be bullied, but it was a fact of life that you had to deal with kids that weren’t very nice.  Now, schools are so anti-bullying that anything that even slightly seems like bullying is taken very seriously.  At least when we were growing up they didn’t have Facebook to upload embarrassing videos to that would ruin a person’s life.  Check out 10 ways technology makes bullying worse.

  1. Facebook: Embarrassing pictures and videos can be uploaded to Facebook in a matter of a few seconds and ruin someone’s life forever.  Kids do not understand the damage that something like that can do to a person.  People have actually committed suicide because of events like these.
  2. Cell phones: Growing up we did not have cell phones.  Kids these days have the ability to take pictures at a moment’s notice and sometimes not in the most appropriate places.  Nude pictures of students in the shower or in the locker room have also caused suicides.
  3. Texting: Kids can bully by texting now.  They can text everyone else at the same time something bad or embarrassing about someone else.  They can also send pictures over their phone to everyone on their contact list.  Bullying like this can make someone’s life miserable.
  4. Flip cameras: These cameras are used to shoot quick videos at close range and can be uploaded to the Internet.  Kids that want to bully just have to take embarrassing videos of a student and share them with everyone.  Or a video can be sent to a parent as well that would get them grounded or in trouble.
  5. You Tube: A lot of good things have happened to people by posting a video on You Tube, but a lot of bad stuff has happened too.  People love to be the first one to dish the dirt on someone else.  They witness a fight they grab their cell phone and upload it to You Tube.  Or they set someone up and post what they think is a funny video to You Tube, but it’s actually very embarrassing.  People don’t think they are bullying when they do this stuff, but they really are.
  6. Gaming systems: Many online gaming systems allow conversations between the players.  Teens have reported that someone pretending to be them said mean things or embarrassing things to another person.  This kind of bullying is hard to stop and hard to track.  It does however cause a lot of problems for today’s teens.
  7. Blogs: There are teens that create blogs that post the latest gossip about people and will say nasty things about people.  Teens feel that they are anonymous and that no one can tell who is doing the bullying, but there are ways to track down who’s doing it and there are some big consequences.  If the bullying leads to a suicide the teen who is behind the bullying can be brought up on charges and sent to jail.  Lesser sentences are losing privileges to use a computer for 2 years.  Try doing your homework without a computer these days.
  8. Chat sites: Other sites online have chat rooms where teens can go and chat with their friends online.  People can go into these chat rooms and make up a user name and start saying bad things about kids in that chat room.  Many times there is a chat room that the students frequent because all their friends go there so when someone bullies in a chat room a lot of that kid’s peer group could be reading it.
  9. E-mail: Bullies steal identities and will sign into an e-mail account and send damaging e-mails pretending to be that teen.  Inappropriate messages to a female teacher or a nasty message to the principal are all things that can really get that child in trouble and they didn’t do anything.  Remind your child to keep passwords absolutely private.
  10. Instant messaging: Bullies will try to send nasty instant messages threatening to do something to a teen when they see them next.  Or tell them that they are going to make sure that they don’t get something they want at school like a part in the play or a solo in choir.  Bullying can take many forms even if it’s just telling someone that they did a terrible job on their audition or they overheard someone important say that they did a terrible job.  Anything like that is going to put undue stress on that child.  Make sure that your child is aware and being safe.
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