If you are not visiting your teen’s FB page, Twitter account and Formspring profile, you may not know what your teen is feeling….How are you parenting your teen? What are your strategies? Where do you get your parenting advice and information?
Studies show that most parents use a parenting style based on either the “likes” or “dislikes” of how they were raised by their own parents. But there was no internet when our parents were parenting…there was no cyberbullying….
Check out this article ()
Oswego Police Sergeant Jason Bastin was talking with parents about what he sees. He said cyberbullying is an issue our children face every day! “The internet is a good tool, but only if used properly.” All too often those tools are being misused. “Cyber bullying is all encompassing,” Bastin said. “It becomes their reality. When someone says something negative about them, it shatters their whole world.”
- Forty-two percent of kids have been bullied online.
- Thirty-five percent have been threatened.
- Twenty-one percent have received mean or threatening emails.
I was sitting at my son’s lacrosse game on Sunday and I asked the mom sitting next to me if she goes on her teens’ Facebook pages. She has a daughter in 11th grade and a son in 8th grade. She said, “They are older now, I don’t need to check.”
I think most parents believe their kids would never do something to hurt others. And most kids wouldn’t. At least intentionally.
So, whose kids are being hurt? Whose kids are being threatened? Who is the 42%??
